Pi/37 



7 




n/ 



AMUSEMENTS 



WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN 



A. DISSERTATION 

Submitted to the Faculty of Ci,ark University, Worcester, Mass. 

in partial fulfilment of the requirements 

for the degree of 

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

AND ACCEPTED ON THE RECOMMENDATION OF 

WM. H. BURNHAM 



THOMAS R; CROSWELIv 



Reprinted from the Pedagogical Seminary 
Vol. VI, September, 1899 



> A 



r 



^ 



Imusementg of Woroe^ter School Children. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 



By T. R. Croswei.1,. 



Educators are coming more widely to recognize that develop- 
ment following nature's laws is not always a steady growth in 
one direction, but often by sudden starts and rapid shoots at 
what are termed the nascent periods. They also recognize that, 
to guide the formation of true men and women, they must 
know more of what these nascent periods are, of what the 
natural tendencies of the child are in the normal process of his 
development. Such beliefs have led to the many attempts to 
study in a variety of ways the natural interests of children. 
The present study is but another such attempt based on the 
belief that the spontaneous activity of the child affords the 
best opportunity for the investigation of interest. It is not 
expected that the most careful study of the outward expression 
of the life of a limited number of children can settle the 
problem of children's interests; but we believe that this study, 
touching as it does the lives of several thousand children now 
attending our public schools, may serve some as a rough cri- 
terion of their work, confirming in many cases the results of 
general observation and honest experimentation, and in other 
directions pointing just as directly toward vital errors. Not 
only will it serve as a criterion of value, but will also contain 
many hints to the thoughtful teacher for special devices and 
methods of teaching. 

This paper, originally intended as a preparation for a more 
extended study (which may yet follow), is based almost entirely 
upon the answers of some two thousand children in the public 
schools of Worcester, Massachusetts, to questionnaire No. VIII, 
issued in the fall of 1896 at Clark University. But these an- 
swers have been confirmed, as far as possible, by comparison 
with similar studies of about the same number of pupils from 
other localities, by the extended reading along this line, and 
by general observation. For the generous aid received, the 
writer feels under the greatest obligation to all contributors, 
and especially to the hearty co-operation and encouragement 
of Supt. C. F. Carroll, and of those principals and teachers 
who so kindly furthered the work in Worcester. 

These returns, in round numbers, from about one thousand 
of each sex, include all grades from the kindergarten up to 

Gift 
The UniTersit-" 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 3 

and into the high school. They are from seven different schools, 
so selected that about a third of the children are of Swedish 
parentage, one-fourth of American parentage, and the rest are 
about equally divided between the French Canadians and 
Irish, with a slight sprinkling of other nationalities. The 
questions were intended to recall as far as possible each child's 
own experience without suggesting particular answers. In 
order to call out the various reactions of the child, the ques- 
tions were put from a number of slightly different stand- 
points. For the most part the answers bear the stamp of 
originality and truthfulness. 

In collating this material three general heads have been fol- 
lowed : 

1. A study of the variety and character of \^q. games, toys, and 
other amusements of the child. In brief a tabulation and study 
under a general head of all the things mentioned in the an- 
swers to the following questions. 

TOPICAL SYLLABI FOR CHILD STUDY. 

(Series for Academic Year 1896-7.) 

VIII, SpontaneousIvY Invented Toys and Amusements. 

A. For Children. (Teachers are requested to ask their pupils to 
answer this part of the syllabus.) 

Write your (a) name, {b) age, {c) sex, and {d) state whether you 
live in city or country. 

I. What toys or playthings do you use most (a) in winter, {b) in 
spring, {c) in summer, {d) in fall? 

II. What games and plays do you play most (a) in winter, {b) in 
spring, {c) in summer, {d) in fall? 

III. Which of these are («) your favorite playthings, (b) your 
favorite plays? Do you use most the toys and games you like best? 
If not, why not? 

IV. Name other (a) games, and {b) playthings which you used 
when younger. Give age at which each was used most. Show 5'our 
choice as above. 

VIII. Describe any games j/ou or your friends have invented. How 
long did you play them betore giving them up? To what extent did 
other children imitate them? 

IX. What do you play, or how do you amuse yourself (a) when 
alone? {b) When only two or three are together? (^) When more 
than three? 

X. What do you do for amusement evenings? 

XI. What games do you play on Sunday? What else do you do to 
amuse yourself? 

2. A more careful study of question IX, i. e., a study of 
the influence which special conditions of environment may 
exert. ♦ 

3. A study of the creative work of the child when left to 
himself. Based upon answers to the following questions : 

V. Describe any plaything, no matter how poor, which {a) you 
have ever made, (d) your friends have made. 



4 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

VII. Describe anything you have repeatedly attempted to make, 
or wanted to do, but did not know how. 

Below the fourth grade, owing to the difficulty in written 
expression, little was attempted beyond the answers to the 
first three questions. Those from the kindergarten and first 
grade were obtained by careful inquiry on the part of several 
teachers who very kindly took upon themselves the labor of 
writing down the statements of their pupils. 

The 2,000 children mention over 700 difierent means of 
amusement.^ 

About 100 of these are sedentary games (chiefly cards), and 
150 are with t03's and common objects used as toys, which 
would tend to sedentary habits; 225 are active games or sports; 
85 are such pastimes or employment as do not belong distinct- 
ively to any of these classes; while the writer was unable to 
find out even the nature of 130. 272 of these amusements 
were common to both sexes, 182 are mentioned by the boys 
alone, and 197 by the girls alone. 

It has seemed best, however, to attempt to classify the amuse- 
ments according to their most prominent function in the de- 
velopment of the child, ^ and to present the list at the beginning 

^ Space does not permit a description of these various amusements, 
but the works referred to at the close of this article describe the ma- 
jority of those which are neither original or purely local. 

-Although the classification given in Groos's The Play of Animals 
seemed to me very unsatisfactory and incomplete, that in his later 
work, Die Spiele der Menschen, is by far the most philosophical that 
I have seen, and had it appeared earlier it certainly would have influ- 
enced greatly my own work. However, as my manuscript was already 
in the hands of the printer, it seemed best to call attention merely ta 
the main points of his classification. Assuming, as I have done, that 
the function of play is development, Groos has made two main divisions 
of the play activities : In the first, those instincts tending toward the 
physical and mental development of the individual, find expression ; 
in the second, those tending toward social development. (I. Triebe 
erster Ordnung oder spielendes Experimentiren. Solchen Trieben, 
durch deren Einiibung das Individuum zunachst einmal die Herrschaft 
iiber seinen eigenen psycho-physischen Organismus gewinnt, ohne 
dass dabei schon die Riicksicht auf sein Verhalten zu anderen Indi- 
viduen in Vorgrund stande. II. Die spielende Bethatigung der Triebe 
zweiter Ordung. Solchen Trieben, -die gerade darauf ausgehen, das 
Verhalten des Debenwesens zu anderen Lebenwesen zu regeln). The 
first division is subdivided into three main groups, treating respectively 
of the exercise through play, of the sensory, the motor, and the higher 
psychic instincts of the individual. The second division has four 
main groups : Contests, Love Plays, Imitation Plays, and Social Plays. 
The last group, however, seems to me to be rather an extra emphasis 
given to the main characteristic of the preceding three, than an exclu- 
sive group. Although, perhaps Groos's classification is more logical 
and philosophical than my own, the reader would, I think, find greater 
difiiculty in applying it successfully to the list of activities here pre- 
sented. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 5 

of this study. Accordingly, in one main class are placed those 
activities, aiding most directly in the motor development; in the 
other class those productive of ge?ieral idea not distinctively 
■motor. These main divisions have been subdivided into 
groups more or less artificial, but serving to place before 
us kindred activities of the child, and thus affording a means 
of mass comparison. After every attempt at identification 
more than 125 different games must be left iinclassified. How- 
ever, as the most of these are not mentioned by more than one 
or two different persons, they have little bearing on the com- 
parison of groups, though as indicating the great variety of 
amusements found among children similarly environed, they 
have considerable interest. A separate division is also made 
for those amusements reported by the childen as played o?ily 
when they were you7tger. 

The general form of presenting each group is in three para- 
graphs; the first containing amusements mentioned by both 
boys and girls, the second by boys alone, the third by girls 
alone. In these paragraphs the amusements are arranged for 
the most part in the order of times mentioned in the returns, 
and after each game are numerals giving its standing, thus : 
Tag B 356-73, G 442-93, shows that 356 boys out of a total of 
1,000 speak of playing tag, and 73 of these 356 considered it 
a favorite, while 442 girls out of 929 play it, and with 93 it is 
a favorite. 

A. Amusements Productive of General Ideas. 

I. Original Make-believe Games. 

Play House B 59-5, G 365-54; Play School B 69-1, G 257-32; Play 
Horse B 166-26, G 47-3; Play War B 55-3, G 8-1; Play Fire B 41-9, G 
3; Play Church B 4, G 9; Play Sunday School B 4, G 10; Santa Claus B 4, 
G 3-1; Salvation Army B 4, G 6; Dress Up B 3, G 6; Policeman B 15-1, 
G 2; Farmer B 3, G i; Milkman B i, G 3; Doctor B i, G i; Indians 
B lo-i, G i; Bear B 13 "when younger," G 13; Pig, including "Pig 
Pen " and " Pig Stabbing" B 4, G 3; Fish B i, G i; Toll Gate B 3, G 
i; Show, Circus, etc. B 4, G 7; Horse Car B i, G i. 

By Boys Alone. Play Ice Cart 10, Ragman 3, Peddler i. Judge 4-1, 
Mail Car 2, Shoemaker i, Library i, Dutchy-Greenhorn i, Clown i. 
Daddy i. Dungeon i, Clubroom i, Robbers 2, "Deliver your Goods" 
2, " There's a Burglar in the Parlor " i, Wildmen and Tiger i, Buffalo 
I, Indians and Wild Horse i, Indians and Cowboys 4, Indians and 
Robbers i, Monkey 3, Training i. 

By Girls Alone. Play Parties, Tea Party, Doll Party 5, Theater 5, 
Giant 2, Postman, Stage Coach, Fairy Queen, Prince, I^ady, Dress- 
maker, Milliner, Marching, Band, Queens, one each. 

2. Play with Toys. 

Dolls B 39-6, G 621-233; Teaset B 8, G 242-73; Doll Carriage B 5, G 
233-80; Doll Furniture B 3, G 79-30; Doll Cradle B i, G 131; Doll Table 
B I, G 15-1; Stove B I, G 15-3. 



6 AMUSEMEJNTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOI. CHII.DREN. 

By Girls Alone. Doll Bureau 16-4, Doll Piano 8-4, Dolls' Clothes 
3, Flatiron 5, Washing Set i, Sewing Box 3, Doll House 3-1, Doll 
Swing 2, Doll Slippers i. 

Horse B 17-1, G 4; Sheep B 2, G i; Dog B 2, G i. The following 
are mentioned by Boys alone, although several girls speak of having 
played with such toys at an earlier age. Elephant, Crocodile, Mon- 
key, Wooden Pig, one each. Wagon, Express, and Dump Cart B 
188-35, G 7; Train, Engine, Cars, B 21-5, G 8; Blocks B 37-7, G 9; Pea 
Blower B 15-1, G i; Balloons B 4, G i; Windmill B 2-1, G 2; Whistles 
B 35-6, G 3; Drum B 31-8, G 3; Harmonica B 15-5, G 4; Horn B 9, G 
3; Rattle B I, G I. 

By Boys Alone. Guns (wooden) 17-3, Knives 17-6, Swords 12-11, 
Whip 7, Reins 5, Toy Soldiers 2, Flag i, Cannon i. Boat, Ship 35-3, 
Water Wheel 4-1, Water Hammer 2-1, Jumping Frog 3-1, Fighters 
(clothespin) 3, Jumping Jack 2, Pop Gun i. Squirt Gun i, Dice 7-1, 
Clapper 7. 

By Girls Alone. Jack-in-the-Box 2, Toy Watch i, Wooden Ham- 
mer I, Horse Car i. 

j>. With Commo7i Objects Used as Toys. 

Dog B 36-5, G 11-3; Cat B 17-2. G 9-1; Horse B 4. G 3; Baby B 2-1, G 
3; Leaves B 75-2, G 112-6; Flowers B 32-1, G 102-1; Horse Chesnuts, 
"Horse Cobbles" B 85-5, G 7; Nuts, Nutting B 48-r, G 28; Trees, 
Climbing Trees B 25-1, G 11; Apples B 18, G 8; Berries, Berrying B 16, 
G 6; Picking Fruit B 5; Acorns B 3, G 19; Sap B i, G i; Eat Food B i, 
G i; Hot Cross Buns B i, G i; Hay, Playing in Hay B 20-3, G 18; Grass 
B 31, G 8; Sand Dirt B 21, G 18; Sticks B 18, G 12-1; Stones B 12, G 13; 
Water B 8, G 3; Fire B 5, G i; Tin Cans B 9, G 7, Tin Dishes B 3; 
Trunk B 4-1, G 3-1; Bells B 3, G 3; Box B i, G 3; Buttons B 3, G 2; 
Matches B 4, G 3; Pail B 3, G 3; Soap Bubbles B i, G 3; Clothespins 
B I, G i; Broom B i, G i. 

By Boys Alone. Pigeons 5, Pigeon Flying i, Birds 2, Parrot i. 
Poultry Show i, Toads 4, Frogs i, Rabbits 4-1, White Rats 2, Cows 2, 
Goats 2, Living Animals 2, Pigs i. Lanterns 9, Valentines 8, Jack- 
lanterns 7-1, Fireworks 4, Pot 2, Bench, Bicycle Buttons, Blank Cart- 
ridges, Crowbar, Boots, Cartwheel, Wheel, Dust-pan, Fork, Toothpick 
House, Strops, and Spool of Thread, one each. 

By Girls Alone. Mud, Mud Pies, etc., 24-2, Clover, Oakballs, Oranges 
and Pears, one each; Lamp, Candles 5, Basket 4, Rocking Chair 4, 
Jacket 2, Parasol 2, Spoons 2, Stamps 2, Bottles, Cap, Coal-hod, Fans, 
Mother's Skirt, Pillow, Screen, one each. 

^. Occupations Common Among Children. 

IN-DOOR. 

Books, Reading B 83-7, G 108-22; Studying B 2, G 3; Camera B 7-2, G 
i; Drawing, Painting, etc., B 22-2, G 9; Blackboards 2, G 13; Pencil B 
2, G3; RulerBi.Gi; Slate B 6, G 15; Paper, Paper Cutting, Colored 
Paper B 4-1, G 4; Desk B i, G 3-2; Talking B 7, G 7; Tell Stories B 4, 
G 12; Riddles B 4, G 7; Singing B ii-i, G 22; Musical Instruments B 
20-4, G 60-10; (of these the following are mentioned specifically, Piano 
B 6-1, G 51-9; Violin B 5, G i; Banjo B r, G i; Flute B 3; Music Box, 
Melodeon, Harmonica, Accordion, and Zither, by one boy each; Ap- 
poUo Harp, Autoharp, Mandolin, by one girl each;) Dance B 4-2, G 
15-3; Parties, Social B 4, G 6; Carpentry, Tools, Tool-box, Saw, Ham- 
mer and Axe, etc., B 41-6, G 3; Jack-knife B 12-2, G i. 

By Boys Alone. Printing Machine 5-1, Typewriter 3; Debating Club, 



AMUSEMENTS OP WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 7 

Go to Public Lectures, Library, French Book, Bookkeeping, one each; 
Jig Saw 5, Leather and knives i, Building Log Cabins i; Electric Bat- 
tery 3, Electric Toys 2, Electric Pulley, Experiments in Electricity or 
Chemistry, Telephone, Run a Stationary Engine, one each. 

By Girls Alone. Writing, Writing Letters 5, Assume Characters and 
Charades 4-1, Practice Reading, Recite Poetry, Spell, Study Catechism, 
one each ; Microscope, Scales, Theater, Opera 3, Play with Boys i. 
Fancy Work 15-1, Crochet 15, Sew 19-1, Patch Work i-i. Make Candy 
4, Pop Corn 2, Stove 2, Clean and do Chores i. Collecting Tintypes. 

OUT-DOOR. 

Shovel, Hoe, B 61, G 12-1; Rake B 12, G 3; Wheelbarrow B 18-1, G2; 
Gardening, "Tend my Plants," "Plant things in Spring," B 6, G6". 
Walks, "Go to Walk" B 14-2, G 25-2; "Go to the Woods to have a 
Good Time," " Romping in the Woods" B 2, G i; Camping Out B 2, 
G 2-1; " Fresh Air," " Shovel Snow for an excuse to get out " B i, G i. 

By Boys Alone. Butterfly Net 2, Catch Bugs 2, Whooping 2, Col- 
lecting Eggs I, Peddle Papers i. 

By Girls Alone. Lawn Mower and Hose 2, Picnicing 2, Play in the 
Sun 2, " I go away for amusement," Go out with the Baby, Dig Pota- 
toes, Look at Birds, Go Shopping, one each. 

CARDS. 

Cards B 163-34, G 151-51; Old Maids B 38-12, G 73-20; Authors B 28-2, 
G 50-10; Peter Coddles B 2, G 15-3; Robinson Crusoe B 8-3, G 7-3; Snap 
B 6-2, G 8; Anagrams, Letters, Spelling Game B 8, G 5; Napoleon B 6, 
G i; Lost Heir B 7-1, G i; Chicopee B 7, G i; Bible Game B 2, G 5-1; 
Dr. Busby B 3, G 3; Christmas Goose B i-i, G 5-4; 'Cinderella B 3-1, 
G 3; House That Jack Built B 3, G 2; Jack the Giant Killer B 3, G i-i; 
Mail Express B i, G i-i; Pussel B i, G 3-1, Whang B i, G 2-1; U. S. 
Puzzle B 3-1, G i-i; Shopping Game B i, G 3; Waterloo B 2, G 2-1; 
Literature Game G 3-r; Literary Women B i; Noted Men of America 
G i; Solitaire B 2, G i; New Market B i, G i; Speculation G 3; Pen- 
ock G I. 

By Boys Alone. Cock Robin, Columbus Base Ball Team, Bluff Cards, 
Delagoa's Travels, Hispaniola, Princeton and Yale Foot Ball Game, 
Slap, Massachusetts Puzzle, one each. 

By Girls Alone. Louisa 7-3, History Game 4, Auction 3, Flag Game 
2-r, Muggins 2, Heedless Tommy 2, Give Away, Everlasting, Geograph- 
ical Games, Cities of Our Country, Goose Gander, Golden Locks, 
Game of Progress, Star Game, Desperation, Flower Game, Fortune 
Teller, Prisoner of Zenda, Ranee. 

TABLE GAMES. 

Checkers B 277-87, G 189-34; Dominoes B 185-42, G 133-26; Chess B 
25-3, G i; Puzzles B 21-3, G 13-1; Lotto B 21-4, G47-8; Go Bang B 11-2, 
G 11-4; Tic-tac-too B ii-i, G 10-2; Fox and Geese B 4, G 14-1; Halma 
B 2, G 5-1; Crocinole B 7-1; .Parchesi B 17-2, G 40-17; Messenger Boy, 
Errand Boy, Telegraph Boy, Newsboy, Office Boy B 31-10, G 16-4; 
Nellie Bly, A Trip Around the World, A Race Around the World, 
Around the World in 80 Days B 17-3, G 7; Backgammon B 12-2, G 15-3; 
Old Mother Goose B 3, G 14-2; William Tell B i, G 13; Cuckoo B 4-1, 
G 6; Yacht Race B 5-1, G 2; Steeple Chase B 2, G 4-1; Cash B 3-1, G 
i; India B 2, G 2; Innocents x\broad B 3, G i; Jack and the Beanstalk 
B 2, G i; Little Miss Mufht B i, G 3; Zigzag Kangaroo B 2, G i; Bobb 
B I, G 2; Arena B i, G 2. 

By Boys Alone. Toboggan Slide Game 2, County Fair, Sailor Boy, 
Three Horse Race, one each. 



8 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

By Girls Alone. Crossing the Alps 3-3, Drummer Boy 2, Bicycle 
Game 2-1, Little Bo-Peep 2-2, Crossing the Ocean, Lost in the Woods, 
King Quoits, Stick Game, one each. 

PARLOR GAMES. 

Hide the Button B 14, G 55-7; Hide the Thimble B 15, G 26-2; Quaker 
Meeting B 5, G 10; Guessing Games B 10, G 2; Post Office B 3-1, G 6-3; 
Shouting Proverbs B i, G 3. 

By Boys Alone. Send my Ship to China 2, My Cook doesn't like 
Peas I, Jedkins Up i, Ghost i. Kiss the Pillow i. One, Two, Three, 
Go Back I. 

By Girls Alone. Donkey Game 4, Strike an Attitude 4, My Ship 
Comes Laden with 2, Clap In and Clap Out 2, Buff with the Wand, 
Fortune Telling Games, Adjective Stories, Hunt the Slipper, My Lady's 
Toilet, Nonsense, Simple Simon, The Miller, Peek-a-boo. 

B. Amusements Productive of Motor Development, 

I. Traditio7ial Ritig Gaines. 

On the Green Carpet B 6, G 62-10; Grandmother Grey B 5, G 53-10; 
Go In and Out the Windows (" Winrows") B 4-2, G 40-5; Lazy Maid, 
Lazy Mary, Lazy Bessie B 2, G 33-2; Water, Water wild Flowers B i, 
G 33-2; Ring Around the Rosy B 5, plus 10 at an earlier age, G 31-5, 
plus 10 earlier; Farmer in the Dell B 8-2, G 26-5; London Bridge B 3 
(plus II earlier) G 23-3; Round the Mulberry Bush, "Round the 
Barley Bush " B 2, G 14; Billy, Billy Button B 5, G i; Three Kings B 
I, G 4; Jack and Jill B i, G 4; Tin Tin a Poppy Show, or Pin, Pin," 
etc., B I, G 4. 

By Boys Alone. Bushel of Wheat, Bushel of Rye 2, Fly Kitty 
through Peals i. 

By Girls Alone. Jennie a Jones, Jemima Jones 24-3, Poor Tommy 
is Dead 14-2, Little Sally Waters 12 (plus 6 earlier). Forty Girls go 
Round the Ring, "Merry Girls, etc. 11-3, Draw a Pail of Water 4, 
Here come an Old Woman from " Farmerland " (or Cumberland) 5, 
Here comes one King i, Here's the Way we Wash our Clothes i, Have 
you any Bread and Wine? 2, Lady Bug, Fly, Fly ! i. 

2. Games of Chase. 

Tag B 356-73, G 442-93; Hide-and-Seek B 241-74, G 427-132; Relievo 
B 356-126, G 194-48; Black Tom and Black Jack B 102-26, G 97-14; Drop 
the Handkerchief B 22-2, loi-ii; Lion in the Den B 4, G 80-22; Puss 
in the Corner B 35-3, 73-9; Steps B 9, 65-9; Hare and Hound, Hunt the 
Hare B 65-13, G 6; Blindman's Buff B 42-2, G 64-13; Hill Dill B 45-6; 
47-4; Run, Sheep Run, or Sheep Lie Still B 58-10, G 36-11; Bull in the 
Ring B 42-7, G 13; Bar Up B 42-6, G 20-2; Snap the Whip B 41-3, 50-2; 
Colors B 6, G 40-4; Duck on the Rock B 37-5, G 36-6; Stealing Fggs B 
35-3. G 9-1; Birds B 9-1, G 25; Trade B 6, G 23-2; Old Witch ("Oh, 
Mother the Kettle is Boiling over," "Sunday, Monday," etc., "Old 
Man") B 6, G 19; Pig Tail B 5, G 18-1; Pinch Me, Oh! B 13-2, G i; 
Last Couple Out B i, G 12-5; Bonney B 6, G 3; Rachel and Jacob B 6-1, 
G 3; Chase the Squirrel B 6-1, G 2; Chase the Fox B 2, G 2; Gypsy B 
3, G 3; The King (I'm on the King's Land) B i, G 2; Lead, Leadman 
B 2, G 12-1, " Pond, Pond Pull Away," " Pump, Pump Pull away " B i, 
G i; Rush B 4, G i; Pound the Back B 2-1, G 6-1; Fox, Fox and Goal 
B 2, G i; Grand Daddy Long Legs (An Original Game of Chase on 
Stilts) B 2, G I, Skip B 3, G I. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 9 

J. Contests with Objects. 

Ball B 679-241, G 409-67; Marbles B 608-115, G 130-21; Football B 
455-151, G i; Jackstones B 28-2, G 341-63; Hockey, Shinney, Polo B 
313, G 8; Top B 176-28, G 11; Hop Scotch B 16, G 154-21; Croquet 
B 62-3, G 148-52; Hoop B 71-3, G 1 10-14; Stilts B 70-7, G 12; Bean Bag 
B 4, G 72-7; Pick Kuife B 57-4, G 3; Tenpins B 53-10, G 6; Tennis B 
51-10, G 31-10; Tip Cat B 33-1, G 10-2; Tiddledy Winks B 22-6, G 
31-3; Pillow Dex B 16-2, G 21-4; Horse Shoes, Quoits B 19-2, G i; Fish 
Pond B 12-1, G 15; Pool, Billiards, B 13-2, G 2; Jackstraws B 4, G 11; 
Golf B 4-1, G i; Cricket B 4, G i; Battledore B i, G 3; Bagatelle B 2, 
G 3; Parlor Ring Toss B i, G i. 

By Boys Alone. — Boxing 36-7, Fight for fun i. Fencing i. Sling Shot 
22, Bow and Arrow 15-2, Hand Ball 4, Basket 2, Tug of War 5, Vault- 
ing Pole 2, Shovel Board i, Tivoli i, Roly Poly i; 

By Girls Alone. — Shooting Game i. 

/. Other Athletic Pastimes. 

Racing, Running B 51-13, G 8; Leap frog, " Foot and Half " B 48-8, 
G i; Jumping B 44-4, G 8; Gymnasium, Gymnasium Apparatus, 
Dumb bells, Indian Clubs, etc., B 22, G 11; Poison B 2, G 16-1; Swing- 
ing B 13-1, G 22-4; Hurdles B i, G 2; Wall Fences B 2, G i; Bicycle, 
Tricycle, Velocipede B 160-78, G 91-46; Swimming B 119-26, G 15-2; 
Kite, Parachute B 107-5, G 12; Fishing B 80-19, G- 7-1; Boats, Canoes, 
Rafts, B 78-18, G 27-4; Guns, Rifles, Hunting B 64-14, G 3; Tents B 
33-2, G 14-1; Horseback Riding B 7-1, G 4; Carriage, Sleigh, Buck- 
board, Tally-ho B 16-5, G 22-3; Sled B 555-100, G 498-69; Skates B 538- 
168, G 412-113; Snow Balling B 123-14, G 98-3; Snow Shovel B 65-1, G 
19; Snow Shoes, Skees B 58-3, G 10; Snow Man B 36-3, G 26-1; Snow 
House B 28-3, G 23-2; Snow Forts B 20-3, G 14; Toboggan B 2, G 2. 

By Boys Alone. — Punching Bag 6-1, Wrestling 3, Vaulting 2, Last 
Dare i, Roller Skates i. Traps 4, Ice Boat i. 

By Girls Alone. — ^Jump the Stick 15, Hopping 2, Walk on Cans 2, 
Sliding on Feet i. Somersaults i, Merry-Go-Round i, Snow Plough 2. 

2. Practical Jokes. 

Kings and Queens B i, G 2. 

By Boys Alone. — Digging for Gold 7, Pee-wea-mo-yet 2, Knight of 
the Whistle i. Let 'er Fly i. 



I. Games Mentioned 07ily as Ozitgrown. 

By Boys Alone. — Cuckoo, Devil in the Band Box, Filling bar of 
soap with tacks, House that Jack Built, Play in the Tubs, Stealing 
Chickens. 

By Girls Alone. — Barker, Drumming on Tin Pans and Marching, 
Five Little Rabbits, Fox and Cat, Little Boy Blue, Pea Porridge Hot, 
Peek-a-boo, Peter and Rachel, Roll Your Hands, Selling Birds, Steal- 
ing Chickens, The Cobbler, This is the mother good and dear. 

J. Unclassified. 

Attack, Farmer Jones's Pigs; Ducks and Geese, "The Geese, The 
Geese," Goose in the Garden, Hide the Gig, Happy Family, Mash, 
Pilgrim's Progress. 

By Boys Alone. — AUart, Bombay, Boston Ring, Bug-a-Boo Bill, 
Catch my Bear, Catch the Wild Bull by the Horns, Catch the Fox by 



lO AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

the Tail, Croweck, Coast in the Well, Dickey Dick, Duckrick, Four 
Famous Fuuny Fellows, Four Louse Eaters, Free the Ring, Full 
Force, Galic, Gig, Mash the Gig, Muzzle the Gig, Gold Bank, Half 
Eagle, Have you ever seen a nigger, High Giggles, Hill Climbers, 
Kymo, Lilostillgo, Log Cabin, Man in the Moon, Pat, Peter Pumpkin 
Eater, Pike's Pike or Bust, Plume, Plump, Pooh, Range, Soldier on 
the Road, Six and Four are Ten, The Spear, Spole, Stag, Tarhand, 
Tat, The Capitol at Washington, The King Quoth, Three Mice, 
Tvt'enty-three Fishers, Twiddles. 

By Girls Alone. — All Nations, Are you in it? Babes in the Woods, 
Bean Stalk, Bean Stalk Stay, Black Jill, Boots without Shoes, Build 
the Bridge, Cut the Cheese, Demotion, Everlasting March, Feather 
Deck, Fly little boy. Forfeit, Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Golden 
Eggs, Gold Spoon, " Halo my children," Happiness, Happy Go 
Lucky, Have you ever? Hillock, Hunter, King Cole, I'm posted, I 
went to Paris, Jack-of-All-Trades, "John, John, I'll tell your daddie," 
Jumbo, Luck, Milk Maid, Minute Man, Mother Hubbard, Musks, 
Needle and Thread, Pall, Parlor Mantelle, Paws and Claws, Pick me 
out. Poor Farmer, Princess, Punch and Judy, Rain, rain, rain. Riding 
Hood, Road to Washington, Rock-a-Bye Bab}-, Sheep and Dog, Six 
Sticks, Snake Game, Squirrel, Strategy, Sunshade, The Poor Cat, 
Telka, Ticket Office, Tom Old Apple-tree, Tug Away, Twenty-three 
Dishes, Ward Game, What Katy did at School, Who'll go to heaven 
first? 

III. General Function and Characteristics. 

What are the characteristics of such typical amusements as 
ball, marbles, jumping rope, tag, checkers, cards, dolls, play- 
ing horse, cycling, playing with leaves, stones, reading, etc. ? 
Certain of these are marked by active physical exertion, but 
this cannot be said of all. Some are dramatic ; some call for 
the exercise and display of varying degrees of skill. Some 
demand the co-operation of numbers and so necessitate a social 
communit}', others are adapted to the individual alone. Some 
plays are deliberative, others appear to be entirely impulsive. 
Some amusements satisfy if the individual has the opportunity 
merely to exercise his own skill, his mastery over self and over 
inanimate objects, while others necessitate the subordination or 
mastery of another. In most games the element of chance is 
present, the risk of not securing the desired end adding zest 
to the other attractive features of the games. 

Most theories offered to explain the play of children begin 
by assuming a " play impulse " sharply differentiated from all 
other activities, yet the serious character of much play is a fact 
of common observation. The necessity of accounting for such 
an impulse has led many to assume again, as the basis of all 
play, an exceptional state of neural activity which is termed 
the condition of " overflow energy. " ^ This, perhaps, is the 

1 Friedrich Schiller : Letters upon the Esthetic Education of Man. 
See letters 25 and 26. 

Herbert Spencer : The Principles of Psychology. N. Y., 1897. 
Vol. II, p. 627 ff. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. II 

most widely accepted theory, but it confines plaj' to such 
physiological conditions as produce an excess of vital energy 
and also necessitates looking further for an explanation of the 
character of the resulting activity. It is the theory of animal 
rather than o,f human play. It does not give sufiicient weight 
to the fact that both children and animals participate in certain 
games after a condition of extreme fatigue has been induced. 
To explain the varying character of the activity, Spencer adds 
" imitation " of some external act, serving as an extra stimulus 
at the moment when the pent-up energy is about to discharge.^ 
Groos, accepting this theory as explanatory merely of a con- 
dition favorable to play, adds and emphasizes the part played 
by " instinct : " " Thus we see that the explanation of play 
by means of the ' overflow-of-energy ' theory proves to be un- 
satisfactory. A condition of superabundant nervous force is 
always, I must again emphatically reiterate, a favorable one 
for play, but it is not its motive cause, nor, as I believe, a 
necessary condition of its existence. Instinct alone is the real 
foundation for it. Foundation, I say, because all play is not 
purely instinctive activity. On the contrary, the higher in the 
scale of existence, the richer and finer becomes the psycho- 
logical phenomena that supplement the mere natural impulse, 
ennobling it, elevating it, and tending to conceal it under 
added detail." -^ According to his theory " the animals do not 
play because they are young, but they have their youth because 
they must play." ^ Others, too, have emphasized "instinct," 
and through it sought a teleological explanation for the variety 
in play, while the recapitulation theory helps us to explain 
movements which seem to have but little to do with later life, 
on the ground that the child in the process of his development 
must of necessity reproduce the early history of the race.'' 

Nevertheless, as we consider all the amusements of the child 
we may, I think, assume that all his activity, be it physical or 
mental, is always an expression of his psychic life, and that it 
always reacts upon that life. Such a view of play seems to have 
been taken by Froebel, James and Wundt. The first sees in 
pla)^ the " self- active representation of the inner — representa- 
tion of the inner from inner necessity and impulse."^ Wundt 
finds, in the process of ' ' association of immediate impressions 
with earlier ideas," the beginnings of an active imagination 

^ Ibid., VoL II, p. 709. 

2 Karl Groos: The Play of Animals, translated by Elizabeth L. 
Baldwin. N. Y., 1898. p. 24. 

^ Ibid., p. 77. 

** Burk, Frederic L. : Teasing and Bullying. Ped. Setn., Vol. IV. 

5 Froebel: Education of Man. International Education Series, N. 
Y., 1896. p. 55. 



12 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOI. CHILDREN. 

which ' ' shows itself with an impulsive force that the child is 
unable to resist,"^ and this force being unchecked by inhibiting 
ideas, expresses itself in the varied activities of childhood. 
How varied this activity may be, when unchecked by inhibiting 
ideas such as influence adult life, may be apprehended by 
weighing the following words of James: " Where there is no 
blocking, there is naturally no hiatus between the thought 
process and the motor discharge. Moveme?it is the natural 
immediate effect of feelings irrespective of what the qtiality of the 
feeling rnay be. It is so in reflex actio7i, it is so in e?notional 
expression, it is so i?i the voluntary life."''^ The italics are from 
the original text. 

In whatever way Froebel may have conceived his ' ' inner 
necessity and impulse," it seems impossible of translation into 
any terms, consistent with modern psychology, which do not 
also include ' ' the association of immediate impressions with 
earlier ideas, ' ' and with ' ' the thought processes ' ' which form 
the initiative to action. In this sense the occasion for activity 
would not be confined to the discharge of motor cells, due ex- 
clusively to the general superabundance of neural energy ; but 
would include such a discharge occasioned by great local activi- 
ty in some psychic center, due to any stimulating agency, though 
this agency might be merely the stimulating effect of some 
metabolic process. The latter is the most plausible explanation 
which we have at present of many of the seemingly impulsive 
movements in the young, as for example of the vigorous but 
aimless kicking of the infant, or of the frolicking movement 
seen in the young animal. But a similar psychic activity with 
its accompanying motor discharge may be occasioned by varied 
external stimuli, and may continue far beyond the limits of 
healthy exercise — examples of which are far too frequent in 
many forms of nervous disease; and all who have ever ex- 
perienced the state of ' ' being too tired to rest, ' ' will readily 
recall the almost uncontrollable impulse to motion, although 
fully realizing the necessity of rest, and being irritated by the 
slightest disturbing influence. 

This explanation of activity does not roughly separate that 
of the child from that of the adult. In both is found the im- 
pulse to action, due to metabolic processes or to the immediate 
reaction to some objective stimulus, and the deliberate action 
having some definite end in view. That the one form of stimu- 
lus is more frequent at one period of life, does not stamp all 
the activities of that period as different from those of the other, 

^Wundt: Outlines of Psychology, p. 293. 

^James: The Principles of Psychology. New York, 1890. Vol. II, 
p. 526. 



AMUSEMENTS OP WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 



13 



it only changes the emphasis. Such a view does not consider 
the child simply as a child to be treated as a child; but as a 
member of the human race who has already begun to take his 
place in the world where he lives. The school is no longer a 
mere drill-room — a vestibule to the life which is to follow; 
but life has already begun there, under conditions very similar 
to those which affect the teacher and the parent. In adult and 
child alike there is the psychic life struggling for expression, 
and in every expression reacting upon the psychic centers, and 
modifying them. The character of this expression is of the 
greatest importance, nor is it changed when the child has left 
the public school; whether he cares for knowledge or not, he 
will be a learner throughout his entire life. 

With this general statement of the function of amusements 
as at once the expression and the means of psychic develop- 
ment, and without attempting to differentiate the explanation 
of the play activity from that of general activity, we will return 
to the consideration of the characteristics of children'' s amuse- 
ments as seen in these returns. 

The main classification was based on the motor development. 
The list of amusements calling for active physical exertion is 

Amuseme7its te^iding tozvard Physical Development. 




14 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 



SO prominent as to lead to the placing first among the prominent 
characteristics the desire for physical activity. Man has this in 
common with all animal life. The foregoing chart indicates 
relativel}^ the strong ascendency of the physical exercises over 
all other forms of amusement; at every age after the ninth 
year it is represented as almost 2 to i , and in the sixteenth year 
rising among the boys to 4 to i. 

The proportion which those amusements tending chiefly to- 
ward physical development bear to all other amusements, is 
shown for each year from 6 to 18 by curves A B and C D. 
Curves a b and c d are the respective complements of A B and 
C D, and show the relative proportion of all other amusement. 

From another standpoint the same characteristic is brought 

The Twenty-Five Leading Amusements. 

Total, 1,000 Boys, 929 Girls. 







BOYS. 


GIRLS. 1 




GIRLS. 


BOYS. 




>, 


.c 


>^ 


X 


>% 


X 


>> 


s> 






.0 


-ti 


U3 






x> 




.0 


^ 






■a 


^ 


-0 


'% 




-0 


'% 


-a 


& 




BOYS. 


1/ 
n 
.2 


<u 


a 



v 


GIRI,S. 


V 

a 



u 


H 



(U 









> 





> 
ca 




(LI 




> 

CO 





> 

CO 


I 


Ball, 


679 


241 


409 


67 


Dolls, 


621 


356 


39 


6 


2 


Marbles, 


603 


115 


130 


21 


Sled, 


498 


69 


555 


IIO 


3 


Sled, 


555 


JIG 


498 


69 


Jump Rope, 


480 


60 


13 


I 


4 


Skates, 


538 


168 


412 


"3 


Tag, 


442 


93 


356 


73 


5 


Football, 


455 


157 


I 




Hide and Seek, 


427 


132 


241 


74 


6 


Tag, 


356 


73 


442 


93 


Skates, 


412 


113 


538 


168 


7 


Relievo, 


336 


126 


194 


48 


Ball, 


409 


67 


679 


241 


8 


Hockey, Polo, ~l 
Shinney, J 


313 


53 


8 




Play House, 


365 


54 


59 


5 


9 


Checkers, 


277 


87 


189 


34 


Jackstones, 


341 


63 


28 


2 


10 


Hide aud Seek, 


241 


74 


427 


132 


Play School, 


257 


32 


69 


I 


II 


Wagon, Express, 


188 


35 


7 




Doll Tea Set, 


242 


73 


8 




12 


Dominoes, 


185 


42 


133 


26 


Doll Carriage, 


233 


80 


5 




13 


Top, 


176 


28 


II 




Relievo, 


194 


48 


336 


126 


14 


Play Horse, 


166 


26 


47 


3 


Checkers, 


189 


34 


277 


87 


15 


Cards, 


163 


34 


151 


51 


Hop Scotch, 


154 


21 


16 




16 


Bicycle, 


160 


78 


86 


45 


Cards, 


151 


51 


163 


34 


17 


Snow Balling, 


123 


14 


98 


3 


Croquet, 


148 


52 


62 


3 


18 


Swimming, 


119 


26 


15 


2 


Dominoes, 


133 


26 


i85 


42 


19 


Kite, 


107 


5 


12 




Marbles, 


130 


21 


603 


21 


20 


Black Tom and \ 
Black Jack, / 


102 


26 


97 


14 


Leaves, 


112 


6 


75 


2 


21 


Horse Cobbles, 


88 


5 


7 




Hoop, 


IIO 


14 


71 


3 


22 


Books, Reading, 


87 


7 


108 


22 


Books, Reading, 


108 


22 


87 


7 


23 


Fishing, 


80 


19 


7 


I 


Flowers, 


102 


I 


32 


I 


24 


Boat, 


78 


18 


27 


4 


Drop the Hand- \ 
kerchief, J 


lOI 


II 


22 


2 


25 


Leaves, 


75 


2 


112 


' 


Snow Balling, 


98 


3 


123 


14 



AMUSKMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOI. CHILDREN. 1 5 

out in the Table of the Twenty-Five Leading Amusements 
(p. 226) 9 out of the first 10, 17 out of the first 25, and 39 out 
of the 50 amusements mentioned the greatest number of times 
by the boys, are from this class; while from among the girls 6, 
15, and 32 amusements belong respectively to this class. 

Closely associated with the pleasure in physical exercise pure 
and simple, is that in the developmejit and exercise of skill. It 
enters nearly all competitive games, where the conscious desire 
of mastery is likely to be the strongest motive, as seen in the 
little girl of eleven who liked to play tag best because she 
could " run fastest." It is one of the most prominent features 
in many athletic exercises, as in walking stilts and skating; 
also in games requiring manual dexterity, as marbles, and ball; 
it appears as mental skill in cards and puzzles. Every child 
likes '• ' to make something. ' ' The wise direction of this in- 
stinctive desire, to accomplish something and to receive credit 
for it, is one of the strongest motives to which a teacher can 
appeal in guiding a pupil: 

"With skill 
Goes love to show skill for the sake of skill." 

Akin to this characteristic is the desire of emulation. Bight 
of the first 10 amusements of the boys, 15 of the first 25, and 
30 of the first 50 are of a distinctively competitive character. 

If anything is needed to supplement general observation on 
the child's pleasure in the society of others, it will be enough 
for the present to call attention to the fact that many of the 
amusements and most of the games mentioned require the par- 
ticipation of several persons. This is particularly true of the 
common ring games, games of chase and parlor games, and of 
most dramatic games. The reader will recall from his own 
experience the increased pleasure derived from the bicycle 
when he is not compelled to ride alone. However, we shall 
see later on that this is not an essential characteristic of the 
child's amusements at all ages; in fact, that in his desire to 
satisfy his curiosity, or his desire to realize his mastery over 
some obstacle, or to create something, the child becomes 
oblivious to all except the immediate task before him. Hence 
there is a long list of toys and objects, used either as toys or 
other means of passing away time, where the social instinct 
seems entirely in abeyance. The toy makes for individual 
development, the game for social. 

The love of dramatic expression is most marked in the many 
make-believe games, and in the traditional song games of early 
childhood; in many games of chase in which the children 
become bears, lions, Indians or policemen; in most toys, e. g., 
the doll and toy horse; in the animistic use of many objects, 
as flower babies, and pebbles used as animals. 



i6 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHII^DREN. 



Effect of Age. 

Thus far the discussion has been of children e7i masse, with 
little distinction between the child of six and the young man 
of fifteen, and without regard to the different stages of devel- 
opment. Such treatment is almost inevitable in a studj^ of 
this kind, but a few curves showing the general tendencies in 
children's amusements at different ages can be presented. Is 
there a pla)'^ age ? A time at which the child is more devoted 
to play than at any other age? The Curve of Interest in 
Traditional Amusements is a partial answer to this question. 

Curve of Interest in Traditional A?nusements . 




The basis of this curve is the average number of different 
amusements mentioned by the children at each age. Thus the 
children of six and seven mention on an average only five or 
six different amusements, but those of ten and eleven mention 
nearly fifteen. It is possible to give several interpretations of 
this. Were it not for the constant fall after the twelfth year, 
the form of the curve might be explained as due to increased 
facility of expression. There is still the possibility that the 
rise at nine and ten may in part be so explained, and the later 
fall may be due to the self-conscious restraint at the dawn of 
adolescence; but more probably it indicates, though somewhat 
vaguely, the period in which games predominate. From the 
eighth to the fourteenth j^ear the average child knows more 
and plays more of the common traditional games than at any 
other period of life; and between ten and eleven interest in 
these is at its highest limit. Those who know from obser- 
vation how fully the time of younger children is occupied with 
purely spontaneous play may at first question this curve. Let 
there be no misunderstanding; it does not say that the general 
play impulse culminates here, but that at this time the interest 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 



17 



in traditional games is strongest. The curves for Relievo and 
Hide and Seek, characteristic games of this period, indicate 
more specifically the nature of these games and the relative 

Curves for Relievo and Hide-and-Seek. 




7 



9 /o II jx J3 /^ /^ /^ /y 



A 



interest in them at different ages. Thus only eight per cent, 
of the boys of seven and eight years of age mention Hide and 
Seek, but fifty-five per cent, mention it in the tenth year. 

A glance at the charts of Relative Interest at different ages 
will show in a general way that this is also the age at which 
different interests meet and blend ; here for the last time the 
toy interest is considerable; it is the beginning of extreme in- 
terest in contests; it is the center of interest in games of chase. 

The Curves of Relative Interest trace the growth of special 
interests, indicating the nascent periods in a number of groups. 
Thus the Curve of Games of Chase shows that only eleven 
per cent, of all the amusements mentioned by the boys of six 
years are of this character, but at nine years they amount to 
over nineteen per cent. , and at sixteen they have fallen to less 
than four per cent. The particular toys and games included 
in the groups characterized by these curves may be learned by 
consulting the corresponding headings in the list of amuse- 
ments already given. See pp. 217-222. 

Three natural divisions in the school life of the child may be 
made in accordance with the relative predominance of different 
characteristics in his amusements. In the first period from the 



1 8 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 
Curves of Relative Interest. 





lo\/£ayytCl CommAr 


X 


6 


V. 


1 


















,/ 






> 
























30 


\ 


's. 


-.^ 




















/O 






\ 


^ 







^., 


























■ — ■ 


~~ 




~ ~ 









^^ r_^_ 









ricijial fy^cxk (L bsliaya ( 


p. 


m<i 


^ 






^ 






















^0 


\ 






















„. — 


It 






~~~- 






"" "■ 





^ "" 


- - - 


_ 
















- 


















cLO 


^^ 


^ 


■'-^ 








^ " 


^ 


<;-. 


^ 






/O 
n 


















"S 


^ 








t;/ 7 S ? fo U 1^ 



• J ly T /' '7 ' 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 



19 



CuRVKS OF Relative Interest.— Continued. 

Card and Table Gaines. 




6th to the 9th year, the greater part of the child's amusements 
center about some object, used symbolically or as a means 
through which to exercise the childish impulse for activity. In 
the second period, from 9 to 13 years, the favorite amusement 
is some game calling for vigorous exercise of the whole 
body as seen in the curve of Games of Chase; though, as 
already said, it is also the period of the greatest diversity of 
interests. In the third period, from the 14th year onward, the 
creative spirit prevails — that spirit which compels the child to 
do something, to become something. Most of the amusements 
of this period are contests, and for the first time the co-operation 
of a number to secure a definite end, or promote a common 
cause, becomes a common characteristic; while the majority of 
the remaining amusements center about some result to be at- 
tained.^ 



1 Dr. Gulick : Some Psychical Aspects of Physical Exercise. Popular 
Science Monthly, Vol. LII, pp. 793-808 (Oct., '98). In this very care- 
ful study Dr. Gulick makes the five following divisions in the play 
life of the child : 

1. Babyhood, 1-3 years. 

2. Early Childhood, 3-7 years. 

3. Childhood, 7-12 years. 

4. Early Adolescence, 12-17 years. 

5. Later Adolescence, 17-23 years. 

Of the first two periods he says: "Children before seven rarely 
play games spontaneously. They do sometimes under the stimulus 
of older children or adults." In the third period "these games are 
almost exclusively individualistic and competitive, forming a strong 
contrast with the games of early childhood." In the period of early 
adolescence " two elements predominate : (i) That the plays are pre- 
dominately team games, in which the individual is more or less sacri- 
ficed for the whole, in which there is obedience to a captain, in which 
there is co-operation among a number for a given end, in which play 
has a programme and an end. The second characteristic is, the period, 
with reference to its place, seems to be all of savage outdoor life — 
hunting, fishing, stealing, fighting, hero worship, adventure, love of 



20 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

In the period from 6 to lo years, and earlier, all manner of 
toys are used by the child in his amusements. Not only the 
toys which are bought or made for him, but every conceivable 
thing is utilized by him to give expression to his impressions 
of the world about him. Or perhaps one should say that, es- 
pecially in the earlier part of this period, until about the ninth 
year, the toys and objects used form a means of comprehending; 
they are for the child organs of apperception; without the 
use of these crude symbols many of the simplest facts of life 
might never become a part of his earliest and most important 
stock of ideas experienced. The young child is a constant 
investigator of the phenomena about him, and is ever writing 
up the results of his empirical investigations in the language of 
his plays. The symbolic characters of this language may be 
a doll, a cart, a flower, a stick, a coal hod, a broom. Father's 
boots may be dear little babies, expressing all phases of early 
psychic life, and over which the young mother must exert a 
most watchful care, or they may typify a pair of prancing bays 
which attracted her attention earlier in the day. One young 
girl, beginning with her entrance into grade I, has continued 
to reproduce her school life by means of buttons through all 
the eight grades. In the buttons which represent the pupils 
she sees nearly the same children for each grade, but there is a 
new teacher each year. In such plays the imitation of the 
teacher is often reported to be almost perfect. It is a study in 
psychology, and from the child's standpoint might be termed 
adult study. 

It has already been stated that the toy is a means of indi- 
vidual development. Does any one recall an active child who 
was ever content to remain long without some object in its 
hands? 

With most of our kindergartens conducted on the principle 
of mutual co-operation, and in the face of the many facts show- 
ing that from earliest infancy the child delights in and craves 
the society of others, both of adults and children, but especial- 
ly of others of its own age, it is rather venturesome even to 
suggest that this is not the period for extended co-operation. 

animals, etc. This characterization obtains more with boys than with 

girls." 

" Comparing now the three major groups — early childhood, later 
childhood, and adolescence — it appears that the plays of early child- 
hood are individualistic, non-competitive, and for the accomplishment 
and observation of objective results. The plays of later childhood are 
individualistic, competitive, involve active muscular co-ordination and 
sense judgment. The plays of adolescence are socialistic, demanding 
the heathen virtues of courage, endurance, self-control, bravery, loy- 
alty, enthusiasm, and the savage occupations of hunting, fishings 
swimming, rowing, sailing." 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 21 

However, the individual element is the prominent feature of the 
amusements of children until the eighth or ninth year, when 
for the first time those plays requiring the active co-operation 
of many individuals assume prominence. 

The original dramatic games cannot well be classed as belong- 
ing to any one of the three periods mentioned, but rather form 
a connecting link between the first and second. If a function 
of the toys be to facilitate the apperception of one's more im- 
mediate sensuous environment, that of these games and of many 
of the dramatic games of tradition is to facilitate the assimila- 
tion of a class of ideas, wider in range and more imaginative; 
they lead the growing mind to new and rich fields. The catas- 
trophe of London Bridge, and other traditional games, intro- 
ducing titled personages, delight each new generation. Play- 
ing in an American city, the little Queen of France daily enter- 
tains the Queen of England or makes a royal visit to the court 
at Windsor. The broad range of this make-believe interest is 
probably between the years from 9 to 12, yet within the nar- 
rower sphere of its immediate environment the younger child 
imitates to an equal extent. As Miss Frear has shown so 
clearly in charts II and III of her article on Imitation, in the 
early period the child imitates the ' ' actual things, ' ' later the 
" idea."^ 

The characteristic games of the second period call for vigor- 
ous physical exercise; thus the games of chase, in which run- 
ning is the center of interest, formed twenty per cent, of all the 
amusements mentioned by these children between nine and 
twelve years of age. That this tendency to much exercise at 
this period has a very important relation to growth there can 
be no doubt. ^ That the maximum of interest in such games 
corresponds to the lowest average in the tables of growth, as 
worked out by Kline and others, challenges the careful consid- 
eration of those competent to decide upon the effect of so much 
exercise at this period. " Increased action of the respiratory 
and circulatory systems is the most important physiological 
effects produced by muscular exercise. ' ' ^ This statement sums 
up about all that can be said at present of the effects of 
physical exercise. These effects, as worked out by Parkes, 
refer to the adult, and it is very probable that the results of 
this increased action, which would be injurious to an adult, 
might be beneficial if occurring in a growing child. Bierent* 
calls attention to the great increase in the volume of the heart 

iPifrf. 5^w., Vol. IV, p. 383. 
"^ Ped. Sent., Vol. V, pp. 412-416. 

^Ralfe: Exercise and Training. N. Y., 1894. p. 30. 
* Bierent : La Puberty chez I'homme et chez la femme. Paris, 1896. 
p. 161. 



22 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN, 

and in the richness of the contractile fibers of the heart at 
puberty, and to the fact that there is never, properly speaking, 
hypertrophy of the heart at this period; quoting Beauis, he 
also states that the heart beats at ten years number 91 per 
minute, and at fifteen years has fallen to 82. There is also a 
slight decrease in the normal number of respirations during 
these years. Thus this is the period of great development of 
the heart and respiratory organs, as well as the period of those 
activities which stimulate the heart to the greatest intensity; 
and yet apparently without the evil results certain to follow 
over-stimulation of the heart of the adult. We should have 
called this a period of violent exercise — and such its exercise 
most certainly would be for an adult, whose heart would soon 
be severely taxed were he to engage in some of the exciting 
games of tag common among boys at this age — had we not 
observed the promptness with which these boys respond to the 
feelings of fatigue. This instinctive knowledge of when he 
has had enough, and readiness to yield, is undoubtedly con- 
nected with that other virtue, here termed variety of interests, 
commonly called inattention. Combined, these are undoubted 
monitors of health and right development, guarding alike 
against excess in physical exercise and deteriorating monotony 
in school work. The person who attempts to get much physi- 
cal labor from one of these boys discovers that he is lazy. The 
school teacher finds the grades in which boys of this age are 
most numerous, the most restless of all. 

This period of extreme variety and vigor in physical exer- 
cise, and of rapidly flitting attention, is the period immediately 
following that at which the brain has ceased from its rapid 
early growth, having already by the eighth year reached its 
approximate limit of weight.^ During these j^ears, according 
to the neurologists, the important phase in the development of 
the brain is the increase in association fibers and the further 
medulation of these fibers. This furnishes a plausible explana- 
tion of the function of these games and a reason for their 
diversity. May it not be that this great diversity of interests, 
this restless, roaming attention, this craving for something new, 
this extreme desire to be able to perform some special feat of 
skill — all of which are so strong at this period — may not this be 
Nature's way of guarding against a too early cramping of 
interest along few lines, her way of seeing that a broad general 
development is assured by providing numerous and varied ex- 
periences at this period of the development of association fibers ? 
If this be Nature's plan, then it has been most severely sinned 
against by those who have prepared the courses of study in 

1 Donaldson : Growth of the Brain. N. Y., 1895. p. 107. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 23 

our schools, for the fourth and fifth grades are the ones, beyond 
all other, most likely to be dry and uninteresting. 

There is one other feature of this period which, although 
already mentioned, must not be left without special notice; it 
is the foundation for social co-operation, slowly laid by these 
games. Here are the beginnings of social life, of true citizen- 
ship, of combined independence and mutual dependence. In 
these varied games of chase, etc., are prominent those incen- 
tives to close attention, prompt and accurate action and self- 
control to a marked degree. There, too, is the necessity of 
many taking part, and hence the frequent and often forced 
recognition of the rights of others, of a justice with hard and 
fast laws which may not be lightly disregarded. The constant 
bickering, the petty quarrels characteristic of the play of chil- 
dren from nine to twelve, trying parents almost to despair, and 
convincing disinterested persons that ' ' such quarrelsome brats ' ' 
must be beyond hope, are but the parliamentary debates of 
early legislators. As yet, however, there is no true social co- 
operation. There is little of the general combined action, 
definitely continued to attain a fixed end. Even those games 
in which an adult sees the possibility of great co-operative 
action are played by boys below the teens with little attention 
to the results to be obtained by combining efforts, but are 
studded with feats of individual prowess; every player strives 
to be the star. Yet in this struggle of individuals are condi- 
tions forcing mutual consideration and preparing for the more 
definite co-operation of later years. 

Our curves show that as late as the ninth year nearly 20% 
of the amusements of these children was with common toys or 
with objects used as toys; that during the next four years 
about the same per cent, of running games occurred. The 
further characteristic of these earlier periods having been traced, 
a closing study of the third period is made. After the twelfth 
year the interest in ball games rises rapidly, from 15% at 12 
years to 26% at 16 years; along with this grows a correspond- 
ing interest in cards. This statement means that a third or 
more of all the amusements of these boys just entering their 
teens, are games of contest — games in which the end is in one 
way or another to gain an advantage over one's fellow — in which 
the interest is in the struggle between peers. In foot-ball, for 
example, there can be no doubt of the pleasure derived from 
the physical activity which sends the blood coursing through 
one's veins, giving rise to feelings of a vigorous self, to a height- 
ened consciousness of one's own powers; nor is this conscious- 
ness of power wanting in a game of cards; nevertheless it is 
the result to be attained, ever being attained as the contest pro- 
ceeds, that centers the interest in the games. At this early 



24 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

Stage in life the end must not be too far distant, the struggle 
must be ever present. Later on one may find delight in the 
severe preliminary practice v^hich prepares him to win the later 
contest, or even in the strokes which are laying the foundation 
of his later success on the tennis court. Yet for the younger 
boy all this is drudgery unless the contest is ever present; — on 
the opposite side of the net must be some one to beat. 

The beginnings and growth of this spirit of co-operation is 
beautifully shown by a comparison of the boys' curves for hide 
and seek and relievo (p. 229). The latter is played by two 
sides, and hence has slightly more of the features of co-opera- 
tion, though in many respects the games are of a similar nature. 
Note the culminating point of the upward rise in each at about 
ten years, followed by the rapid decline of the first, and the 
continued interest in the second, due undoubtedly to the appeal 
to this growing delight in contest. 

A look backward at the Curve of Interest (p. 228) gives 
an additional explanation of the downward drop after 10. 
At 10 years an average of 14 different amusements are men- 
tioned; at 16 not half that number. This is the natural con- 
sequence from the class of games played; the more remote the 
end to be attained in a game, the more confined to it will be 
the attention, if any interest exists, and hence the exclusion of 
many games heretofore quite common. Thus certain games 
appear as powerful aids in the development of the ability to 
concentrate one's attention, to specialize. 

Effect of Sex. 

The charts and curves have already brought out distinctions 
between the amusements of the sexes. A resume will make 
them clearer. 

Nearly 40% of the 700 amusements of these children are 
common to both sexes, although about 30% are mentioned by 
each sex alone; for the most part the latter are games played 
but rarely. 

A comparison of the leading games of the sexes calls atten- 
tion to the greater variability of the male, a fact so frequently 
noted in the literature of evolution. 

Amusements mentioned by fifty per cent, or more: Boys, — 
Ball, Marbles, Sled, Skates ; Girls, — Dolls, Sled, Jumping 
Rope. 

By 40% to 50%: Boj's,— Football; Girls,— Tag, Hide-and- 
Seek, Skates, Ball, Play House. 

By 30% to 40%: Boys, — Tag, Relievo, Hockey; Girls, — 
Jackstones. 

By 20% to 30%: Boys, — Checkers, Hide-and-Seek; Girls, 
—Play Sol, Tea Set, Doll Carriage, Relievo. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 25 

Thus only 10 games are mentioned as commonly played by at 
least 20% of the boys, while among the same proportion of 
girls 13 games are common. This difference is continued as 
other games are added, 10% of the girls having 25 amusements 
in common, while the same number of boys have only 20. This 
indicates that the girls have a larger repertoire of amusements 
that are used regularly. Although several of the groups of 
amusements which suggest in-door life, seem at first to indicate 
the opposite, a careful study of the data shows that the boys 
are less conventional. Thus the proportion of toys to other 
means of amusement is much smaller, especially after the ninth 
year, with the boys than with the girls, but the girls use very 
generally such toys as tea-sets and doll carriages, which to- 
gether with dolls, aid their imagination in the reproduction of 
domestic life; while the boys, though they use no toys so gen- 
erally, mention a greater variety. Again what is true of toys 
is also true of their imaginative games. A very large propor- 
tion of girls wall play a few games dealing with local life, as 
playing house, or school, or playing parties; while fewer boys 
play any one game, but their games are more numerous and 
deal with a wider environment. 

Forty per cent, of all the amusements mentioned were in- 
dulged in by both sexes. This element of common interest is 
seen in the general correspondence between the sex curves in 
the different charts. There are exceptions, however, as in the 
cur\'e where the girls are made to appear to indulge in toys to 
a much greater extent than the boys, and in the curve of Ball 
Games which the reader might interpret as showing that the 
girls are lacking in the spirit of emulation. The first has al- 
ready been explained as due to the doll interest, so predominant 
in girls. The second, though showing that the girls do not in- 
dulge to so great an extent in these contests of physical strength, 
does not negative the statement already made, that the third 
period for boys and girls alike, is marked by contests in amuse- 
ments. The curve for cards clearly traces the growth of this 
element in the character of the girls. Still this spirit of stub- 
born contest, delights in the strife for mastery, is more charac- 
teristic among the boys, and is illustrated by the game of chess, 
and by the curves for Hide-and-Seek and Relievo (p. 229). 
Chess, a game requiring close application throughout, and at- 
tention from the start fixed on a definite end, is mentioned by 
twenty- five boys; but only one girl of nearly one thousand in- 
cluded it in her list. In comparing the curves just mentioned, 
it is found that the girls continue their interest in hide-and-seek, 
as they seem to in all distinctively running games, long after 



26 AMUSEMENTS OP WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

that of the boj^s has been drafted off to more vigorous and 
general contests.^ 

Dr. Ellis in his extremely suggestive article on Dolls' has 
clearly indicated their wide use and great value in the psychic 
development of the child. He also showed that doll playing was 
not confined to girls alone. But with him "dolls" had a much 
wider connotation than with these children who have listed 
' ' dolls' ' among their playthings. In the present study ' ' dolls ' ' 
must be considered as referring only to those toys commonly so 
called. Accordingly a very small proportion of the boys of 
school age are found acknowledging that they " play dolls," 
though the number reported is doubtless far too small, as there 
are obvious reasons why the average boy would not confess to 
this amusement. Many, however, speak of playing dolls at an 
earlier age, generally prior to their admission to school, when 
the doll was probably a common tO}' with them. 

Effect op Nationality. 

The child has the same general needs in his growth from 
whatever race he springs. On the whole, the following state- 
ment is true: the general character of the games played by 
these children of differing nationalities and diverse classes in 
society were the same whatever stage of their development was 
selected. This constantly recurring similarity was repeatedly 
brought to the attention of the writer during his work on the 
returns, and was to him an incontestable proof of the genuine- 
ness and accurateness of the answers. 

The child, be he American, Swede, Irish, French or Jew, at 
the time when he enters school still clings to his toys; at nine, 
ten and eleven years of age he expands his chest, strengthens 
his heart, and gains a general control over the movements of 
his whole body, as he avoids capture or secures his prey in his 
games of chase. At the same time his active and unrestrained 
imagination will cause it to be more than a game of tag for 
him; he will be transformed for the time being into the char- 
acter, human or animal, which the particular game calls for. 
The observer of the games at this period cannot fail to notice 
what a large proportion call for dramatization in some form. 
Later, whatever his nationality, the mere activity, the exercise 
in itself, will not be enough; at the end of it there must be 
something to show, some result, some object constantly in 

^ Groos states that those games in which is an active contest between 
sides, and necessarily a stricter subordination to law, are played more 
by the male sex; and he suggests that the social capacity of the 
American women is highly developed because they contest in all 
games freely with the boys. — Die Spiele der Menschen, p. 43S. 

"^Ped. Sent., Vol. IV, p. 129. 



AMUSEMKNTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOI. CHILDREN. 27 

view, else he considers his activity thrown away. Now is the 
time to interest him in so?nething — to form permanent interests. 

Kmphasis has been properly placed upon this general corre- 
spondence; but on that account no one should think that there 
are not important differences, due at least to the traditional 
environment with which birth invests children, even if the dif- 
ference be not rooted in the national character. The play- 
things and games of the parent are an important element in 
determining those of their children; and as promoters and 
transmitters of amusements the parents are second only to the 
children themselves. The returns as tabulated showed that 
fewer toj's were mentioned by the Swedish children than by 
those of American parentage; and the writer was told by 
teachers acquainted with both Swedish and American homes 
that fewer toys are found in the former than in the latter, this 
difference being very noticeable. A singular case in point is 
found in the returns under the heading of ' ' Cards. ' ' In one 
school where there were 237 girls, for the most part of Ameri- 
can parentage, 48 reported that they played cards, and 18 of 
these, an unusually large proportion, reported "Cards" as a 
favorite; but in two other schools in which the great majority 
were Swedish, although the total number of girls was 287, 
only two mentioned cards, and these two were Irish. The 
returns, however, indicate that the Swedish children more 
often made toys for their own use than did the American; 
whence it may be inferred that paucity of toys in the Swedish 
home is due more to parental custom than to childish instinct. 
The returns also showed that the Swedish children indulged 
in the games calling for active physical exercise to a much 
greater extent than any of the other nationalities represented, 
though the environment of Worcester children encourages 
games of this character, and their proportion relative to other 
amusements is very large among all classes of children in this 
city. This characteristic is prominent among the games of 
the Swedish girls as well as boys; with them running games 
of all kinds, skating and " sliding " are prime favorites. This 
great enjoyment of physical activity accords well with the 
usually accepted characteristics of northern races, and espe- 
cially of the Scandinavian in its own peninsular. 

I have to thank Miss Foley, the superintendent of physical 
culture in the city schools, for one fact of great interest. At 
the time these data were being gathered, she was conducting 
the very practical experiment of introducing common games 
into some of these same schools in the place of the ordinary 
physical exercises. In the course of her experiment she found 
that the same games were not equally successful in all schools; 
and that in one school, in which the children were largely of 



28 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

American parentage, the spirit of rivalry, an oppportuuity to 
beat, was necessary to the successful introduction of any game. 
This spirit of rivalry is characteristic of cards, just mentioned 
as an example of a distinction between American and Swedish 
games; and in all games of this class the distinction holds 
good between the nationalities; — more rivalry among the Ameri- 
cans, among the Swedes more vigorous physical exercise. 

Effect of Locality and Season. 

Comparing the tables of the leading amusements in Worces- 
ter (p. 226) and Brooklyn (pp. 240-242), and of leading toys 
in Westfield, a general agreement is found in the order and 
relative percentage of similar games; thus with the boys ball 
is first in both the former places, and sledding and skating are 
third and fourth respectively, while checkers is ninth on all 
three lists; the sled also is second with the girls from the first 
two places, and checkers occupy the fourteenth position. 

On the other hand hockey (shinney ) stands much higher on 
the Worcester list, and relievo is not found at all among the 
leading games^ of Brooklyn boys, though extremely popular in 
the former city. Also the list from the Brooklyn girls give us 
a surprise as we read " dolls " down into the fifth place, jump 
rope, sled, skates and jackstones preceding, nor do games of 
chase appear to be so great favorites, and cards are played more. 
These are, as will be seen, only typical differences, such as will 
be found on comparing any two localities, and they illustrate 
two things which largely determine the free amusements of 
any community; (i) the effect of tradition, (2) and that of 
physical environment. 

Leading Amusements. 
Boys. — Brooklyn. Total nurfiber, 20^. 

Mentioned by Favorite with 

1. Ball, 151 68 

(Baseball alone), loi 53 

2. Marbles, 109 15 

3. Sled, 100 9 

4. Skates, 89 17 

5. Foot-ball, 73 16 

6. Top, 64 7 
7- Tag, 51 5 
8. Snow Balling, 48 5 

^"Ring Relievo," however, is mentioned and described by Stuart 
Culin in the Street Games of Boys in Brooklyn, N. Y. {^^^ Journal of 
American Folklore, Vol. IV, pp. 221-237.) This is the same game, 
although not played exactly as it is by the boys in Worcester. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 29 





Boys , — Brooklyn . 


— Continued. 








Mentioned by 


Favorite with 


9 


Checkers, 


45 


15 


10 


Pass Walk, 


40 


5 


II 


Hide-and-Seek, 


39 


5 


12 


Sleigh Riding, 


37 


5 


13 


Prisoner's Base, 


36 


2 


14 


Snap the Whip, 


33 


I 


15 


Swimming, 


28 


9 


i6 


Dominoes, 


27 


2 


17 


Puss-in-the- Corner, 


27 


I 


18 


Play Horse, 


24 


6 


19 


Bicycle and Velocipede, 


23 


6 


20 


IvOttO, 


22 


4 


21 


Wagon, 


20 


4 


22 


Kick the Can, 


19 


2 


23 


Kites, 


19 





24 


Shinney, 


18 





25 


Messenger Boy, 


17 


8 



All of these boys were between 8 and 16 years old, the great 
majority between 10 and 15. 

IvEADiNG Amusements. 
Girls. — Brooklyn. Total number^ 22j. 







Mentioned by 


Favorite with 


I 


Jump Rope, 


150 


39 


2 


Sled, 


131 


14 


3 


Skates, 


123 


27 


4 


Jack stones, 


121 


33 


5 


Dolls, 


117 


60 


6 


Tag, 


82 


12 


7 


Play House, 


79 


22 


8 


Hide-and-Seek, 


67 


19 


9 


Bicycle and Tricycle, 


58 


25 


10 


Roller Skates, 


81 


15 


II 


Play School, 


50 


15 


12 


Dominoes, 


49 


15 


13 


Doll Carriage, 


48 


17 


14 


Checkers, 


47 


7 


15 


Ball, 


46 


9 


16 


Lotto, 


46 


7 


17 


Reading and Books, 


45 


3 


18 


Parchesi, 


42 


10 


19 


Sewing, 


36 


3 


20 


Croquet, 


33 


II 


21 


Messenger Boy, 


31 


6 



30 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 



Girls. — Brooklyn. — Contmued. 

Mentioned by Favorite with 

22. Old Maids, 25 2 

23. Sleigh Riding, 23 2 

24. Bean Bag, 21 o 

25. Play Store, 19 i 

These girls were between 9 and 16 years of age, the majority 
between 10 and 13. 

The Favorite Toys. 
Boys. — We s {field, Mass. 

Total, yoi. 2p 38 80 jj 118 118 102 po 34. 75 

£7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16 



I. 


Top, 


297 


12 


20 


26 


30 


56 


53 


38 


39 


18 


5 


2. 


Ball, 


260 


7 


15 


29 


20 


46 


44 


48 


31 


13 


7 


3- 


Marbles, 


227 


4 


10 


15 


20 


45 


43 


39 


34 


13 


4 


4- 


Wagon, Exp'ss, 


, 150 


8 


12 


20 


24 


32 


21 


22 


7 


2 


2 


5- 


Football, 


114 


I 


3 


10 


II 


15 


27 


22 


17 


7 




6. 


Bicycle, 


95 


3 


5 


4 


7 


17 


22 


17 


12 


7 




7- 


Drum, 


84 


4 


8 


8 


II 


18 


16 


8 


8 


I 




8. 


Skates, 


76 


I 


2 


II 


4 


16 


18 


13 


9 


2 




9- 


Checkers, 


75 


I 


2 


6 


5 


10 


16 


7 


12 


15 




10. 


Gun, 


74 


I 


2 


6 


3 


19 


16 


17 


7 


2 




II. 


Cars, Engine, 


71 


2 


10 


19 


II 


12 


6 


5 


5 


I 




12. 


Sled, 


65 


2 


2 


9 


4 


14 


15 


II 


7 


I 




^Z- 


ToolChest,Tools,5i 


I 


4 


5 


7 


14 


3 


6 


9 


I 




15- 


Bat, 


49 




I 


4 


6 


13 


8 


10 


3 


2 


2 


16. 


Boats (toy), 


48 


I 


4 


5 


7 


14 


3 


6 


9 


I 




17- 


Horse (toy). 


45 


6 


2 


13 


7 


6 


7 


4 








18. 


Books, 


34 


2 





4 


5 


8 


7 


3 


3 


I 




19. 


Cards, 


33 


I 




I 


2 


6 


7 


12 


3 






20. 


Blocks, 


31 


I 


5 


3 


4 


3 


3 


7 


5 






21. 


Kite, 


29 








7 


5 


7 


4 


3 


2 




22. 


House, 


27 


2 


5 


3 


2 


3 


I 


4 


4 


2 




23- 


Dominoes, 


24 




3 


4 


2 


3 


5 


4 


3 






24. 


Dog, 


24 


2 


3 


3 


3 


3 


4 


4 


2 






25- 


Puzzles, 


23 






I 


T 


6 


4 


6 


2 


2 


I 



The Favorite Toys. 
Girls. — Westfield, Mass. 

Total, 808. J5 6§ 102 108 104. 121 128 100 24 ip 

J7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16 

Dolls, 626 30 61 97 98 90 102 92 44 6 4 

(Paper Dolls, 89 4 6 5 11 21 28 12 i i) 

Tea Set, Dishes, 223 10 27 30 42 31 37 32 14 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 3 1 

Girls. — Westfield, Mass. — Coiiiimied. 

Mentioned by Favorite with 

3. Doll Carriage, 181 5 18 27 34 36 24 31 7 

4. Books, 134 4 7 17 24 27 21 17 12 3 2 

5. Top, 125 5 10 22 17 12 19 16 15 2 2 

6. Ball, 119 I 10 II 17 21 17 26 16 

7. Bicycle, 69 5 6 2 15 12 15 14 

8. Sled, 69 3 7 5 17 II 14 II I 

9. Jump Rope, 68 8 11 9 7 10 14 81 

10. Skates, 67 2 3 4 17 14 15 11 i 

11. Piano, 62 7 2 2 6 13 20 7 5 

12. Checkers, 57 i 8 4 9 7 i? 13 

13. Hoop, 49 24 7 4 9 12 4 61 

14. Stove, 49 16998844 

15. Paint, 45 5 6 3 5 8 10 6 I I 

16. Blackboard, 43 i 3 7 9 3 4 14 2 

17. Dominoes, 39i33743872i 

18. Doll's Bed, 37 24595642 

19. " Table, 37 145 69461 

20. " Chairs,eiC.,33 1876632 

21. " Cradle, 29 14564423 

22. Blocks, 29 28434332 

23. Cards, 29 i 3 3 5 6 6 4 i 

24. Play School, 25 2256 136 

25. " House, 24 1461372 

We have seen how parental influence was still a factor in 
determining the plays of the Swedish children of Worcester; 
here again is a most striking instance of a game, ' ' relievo, ' ' 
nourished and developed until it is mentioned by a third of all 
the Worcester boys, and yet apparently played but little by 
the boys of Brooklyn, a little more than one hundred miles 
distant. But the interesting feature of it all is the substitution 
of games of the same class. In Brooklyn, Pass Walk and 
Prisoner's Base appear to be the substitutes for relievo, while 
general observation in Chicago and vicinity puts " Pomp, 
pomp, pull away " in its place. 

One reason why shinney is three times as popular in Wor- 
cester as in Brooklyn, and that running games of all kinds 
appear to be more popular, is undoubtedly the exceptional in- 
ducements offered by the physical conditions of the former 
city; the many small ponds suitable for shinney are a constant 
invitation to the small boy with a pair of skates, and the 
innumerable vacant lots, covered with grass, — not yet the dirty 
dumping places so common in large cities, — have furnished 
Worcester, free of charge, an excellent system of small parks 



32 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

for playgrounds.^ The only regretable fact is that these are 
neither as frequent nor as grassy in the poorer neighborhoods, 
where exist the greatest need of them, and that they cannot be 
made permanent. These back lots and the broad, shady streets 
offer the choicest opportunity for indulging in running games 
of all kinds. 

While tradition and environment may perhaps have helped 
to plaec two amusements, jumping rope and jackstones, always 
favorites with city girls, higher up in the Brooklyn list, one 
other factor not due to locality has had its influence on the 
relative position of " dolls " and " cards; " a large proportion 
of the Brooklyn girls were in the upper limit of " the doll 
age," or, speaking from the other standpoint, they were just 
entering " the age of card interest." Had equal numbers of 
the same age been taken, the similarity between the two lists 
would have been much closer. 

The difference in the Westfield list is due in the main to the 
fact that it covers less ground than the others, being devoted 
to toys alone and giving greater emphasis to these. Hence 
are placed high on this list toys which are not found at all in 
the other two. Another reason why certain of these toys, as 
wagons, cars, and drums, occupy so high a position, is found 
in the relatively greater proportion of children below ten years 
of age. The very prominent position of the top among West- 
field toys may be due to either of two causes: it may be one 
of those local toys which has become strongly rooted there, or 
the returns may have been taken when ' ' tops were in. ' ' Prob- 
ably both of these conditions existed, for the top has a very 
wide range in its relative popularity in different localities, and, 
like marbles, it comes and goes like an epidemic. 

The returns from our sj'llabus give very general or indirect 
answers in regard to the influence of the seasons in determining 
the games played; but a few observations are perhaps worth 
recording. In notes taken by the writer in Chicago during the 
spring of 1898 the following occurs: "Sat., Mar. 6.'^ Went- 

1 G. M. West, in his article upon The Anthropology of American 
School Children, found in the proceedings of the International Con- 
gress of Anthropology, Chicago, 1894, makes the following statement, 
which is of suggestive interest in this connection : " The Worcester 
children are markedly above the average in stature, while the Toronto 
and Boston children are almost as markedly at the opposite extreme." 

■■^ On the 15th of February, 1899, the writer saw, for the first time of 
the season in Chicago, marbles, ball, and various tag games, but the 
conditions were peculiar ; for fully a month the weather had been 
exceedingly cold, the thermometer frequently registering 15° or more 
below zero, and there was little or no snow on the ground. Suddenly, 
within twenty-four hours, there was a rise of about 70°. After a few 
days the temperature again dropped, and these games disappeared 
from the streets as suddenly as they came. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 33 

worth Avenue electric. Saw, for the first time of the season, 
marbles, jackstones, and jumping rope. Time, late in the 
afternoon; weather, mild and fair. During the next week all 
these games, together with ball, became common on the Nor- 
mal campus." " Mar. 31. 1.00-2.00 p. M. Cloudy and cold. 
During a walk of several miles I saw many groups of small 
boys without seemingly anything to do — just loafing along, or 
sitting with hands in pockets. Not a game of marbles, only 
two of ball, and a few of jump rope." By the last of April of 
this same year the boys of this vicinity had nearly stopped 
playing marbles, though a few sporadic games were detected 
during the next month. Ball was the prevailing game, though 
games of chase and similar running games began to be fre- 
quent, especially in the dusk of evening. General observa- 
tions, made both in Chicago and Worcester, place the greatest 
interest in running games during the months of May and June, 
and. the hours of the day those immediately following supper. 
While these are approximately the correct dates for a few 
games at a given latitude, it by no means follows that they 
would be correct for other localities. Indeed, we are told that 
the Greek boys of the present day play ball in winter instead 
of summer, and local conditions will undoubtedly modify the 
time of most games. 

It is difficult to determine the time of playing; to give the 
reason is still more difficult. One young boy, when asked how 
they happened to begin to play marbles during a certain term, 
replied: "Oh, first one of the boys brought some marbles to 
school, and then others brought theirs. ' ' This does not explain 
how the first boy happened to bring his marbles, but under 
favorable conditions it is easily seen how a game may rapidly 
spread by imitation over a whole neighborhood, or even a city. 
In the varying environment furnished by the seasons are found 
most favorable settings for the games when they are played; in 
the fall when the body requires a high physical tone to withstand 
the inclemency of the season, the favorite out-of-door amuse- 
ments are those which contribute to the formation and mainte- 
nance of this tone; the long winter evenings contribute their 
share to the mental growth in another but milder manner. In 
summer the favorites are out-door activities, but they do not 
make so continuous and severe demands on the physical powers. 
In the spring, when the bright, warm sun, and fresh, fragrant 
air calls children out of doors, but the deep stick}' mud draws 
limits about their feet, the small spongy patches of fresh earth 
stimulate with irresistible strength the boys' associations with 
marbles, the girls with the jumping rope. And thus undoubt- 
edly can the periodic vogue of many of the recurring games 
be explained on the basis of natural associations, quickened 



34 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

by the physical phenomena of each season; and once started at 
a favorable time a game spreads by imitation. 

Effect of Number of Companions and of Time of 
Playing. 

A few facts dealing with the problems of companionship, 
and with the effects of Sunday and evening restraint, have 
been gathered from the returns of these school children, and 
are here presented.^ 

Boys. Girls. 

I GOO 929 Total number. 

/. Whe?i Alone. 

340 325 Books, reading. (Especially from 12 years on.) 

38 117 Music. (Instrumental and vocal, principally the 

piano. ) 

53 55 Drawing, Painting, etc. 

21 81 Making something. 

o 74 Dolls. 

31 52 Make-believe Games. (Especially at early age.) 

20 o Marbles. 

18 3 Ball. 

7 I Walks. 
4 5 Cards. 

2 4 Talk. (To one's self, to Kitty, etc.) 

//. When in Groups of Two or Three. 

40 151 Make-believe Game. 

118 76 Games of Chase. 

81 no Talk, Tell Stories, Riddles, etc. 

98 71 Cards, Checkers, etc. 

II 64 Music. (Instrumentaland vocal, mostly singing.) 

66 o Marbles. 

33 4 Ball. 

3 31 Make something. 
10 8 Walks. 

2 7 Drawing, Painting, etc. 

o 24 Dolls. 

8 25 Reading. (Includes also several cases of more 

than three. ) 

1 Data regarding the amusements of younger children at different 
periods of the day, have already been secured through the extreme 
kindness of friends and of those interested in child study ; and these, 
although not yet carefully studied, reveal many interesting points, 
which may form the basis of a later article. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 35 

///. When i?i Groups of More than Three. 



269 


196 


Games of Chase. 


37 


104 


Make-believe Games. 


37 


43 


Cards, etc. 


27 


73 


Talk, Tell Stories, Riddles, etc. 


67 


4 


Ball. 


4 


33 


Music. (Principally singing.) 


13 





Marbles. 


9 


4 


Walks. 





6 


Dolls. 

IV. Sunday A^nusements . 


203 


246 


Reading. 


64 


80 


Games of Chase. 


48 


65 


Walks. 


52 


38 


Cards. (Includes Bible Games, etc.) 


9 


53 


Music. (Instrumental and vocal.) 


6 


34 


Make-believe Games. 


14 


13 


Drawing and Writing. 





15 


Dolls. 


15 





Marbles. 


12 


2 


Ball. 


I 


10 


Make something. 


3 


3 


Talk, Tell Stories. 

V. Evening Amusements. 


102 


280 


Reading. 


66 


43 


Cards. 


44 


29 


Drawing, Painting. 


13 


50 


Music. (Instrumental and vocal.) 


4 


37 


Make something. 


26 


9 


Games of Chase. 


II 


20 


Make-believe Games. 


9 


5 


Walk. 


5 





Marbles. 


2 


4 


Ball. 


4 


I 


Talk, Tell Stories. 



The list of amusements ' ' when alone ' ' must have impressed 
the reader with the great emphasis given to the activities deal- 
ing with associative and constructive imagination; reading, 
music, drawing, making something, dolls, and make-believe 
games, — such is the order. Here is the suggestion of restless 
activity and of the paths along which it is expressed; under 
these conditions the creative power of the child is most active. 
Yet the one thing overcapping all others is the reading habit, 
especially strong, after the twelfth year. Is this overwhelming 



36 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

tendency to seek amusement in reading a perfectly natural one, 
or is it simply the most convenient form because open to all ? 
Would other activities take its place, had earlier training 
qualified more persons to indulge in them ? It seems probable 
that the latter is the truer answer; and had educators recog- 
nized the importance of leisure and its activities in the forma- 
tion of each individual, our schools would strive to develop in 
each pupil the ability to do something besides gulp down 
stories. In his admirable monograph on reading. Dr. Hall 
has shown the abuse of the ability to read when it degenerates 
into a mere form of amusement; ^ and in later lectures and 
addresses he has made a strong plea for the acquisition by each 
child of the ability to do as many different things as possible. 
" How many things do you know how to do? " is his question. 
This plea has been made on the psychological ground that 
motor activity is a means of brain development. Surely, then, 
if the acquisition of these different powers tend to a more 
evenly balanced development of a man mentally, the continued 
practice of such activities must tend to steady one throughout 
life. 

L,ists II and III are characterized by those amusements 
which more than others foster the development of social habits 
— habits of forbearance, obedience to law, competition, co- 
operation, public spirit. The fancy of each child now is less 
free than in the condition of list I; even in the make-believe 
games it must yield to that of others, become more conven- 
tional and more cramped. Ivist II by itself emphasizes the 
value of a chum in the normal development of every individual. 
If a child has not, in brother or sister, one of its own age 
with whom the most confidential relations may be established, 
it is the duty of parents to encourage and promote such 
relations. 

The Sunday and Evening amusements exhibit the effects of 
restraint in two ways: first, in the predominance of isolating 
amusements,— a glance will show how much more these groups 

1 " Reading, in emancipating men from their physical and mental 
environment, often weakens local pride and local interest, and creates 
a distaste for what is nearest, and what, therefore, should be pedagog- 
ically first. Finally, we sometimes find a habit of passionate reading 
in children that not only interferes with physical development, but 
destroys mental and moral independence, and may be called as mor- 
bid as the writing mania. Thus I have gradually almost come to the 
opinion that many of our youth would develop into better health and 
stauncher virtue, and possibly better citizenship, and a culture in 
every way more pedagogical and solid, had they never been taught to 
read, but some useful handicraft, and the habit of utilizing all the 
methods of oral education within reach, instead." Hall, G. Stanley : 
How to Teach Reading, p. 17. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 37 

resemble group I than either II or III; and secondly, in the 
character of certain amusements which appear as a sort of pro- 
test against this restraint. As if the child should say: " If 
there 's nothing else I can do in peace, I '11 read ; " or " I 'm 
tired of staying in all day. lyCt 's take a walk." Here is a 
basis for the consideration of the problem which confronts so 
many conscientious mothers and fathers: " What shall we do 
with our children Sundays ? Shall they play the same games 
as on other days ? ' ' The answer in the individual case will 
depend much upon the personal belief and Sunday habits of 
the parents, but should be modified by the consideration of the 
probable effect of the day's activity upon the child. 

Can one day in seven be made to have a different significa- 
tion from other days without an injurious influence upon the 
young through the associations they form about it? 

Something can be said for the educational value of a rigid 
Sabbath. If, even by what seems an artificial restraint, we are 
led to habits of contemplating the deeper and more spiritual 
things of life, to a more careful consideration of our duties 
toward God and man, the value of these habits from the com- 
monly accepted moral standpoint cannot be denied; and if at 
the same time the American people learn how to rest from their 
nerve-destroying restlessness and activity, the value of a Sun- 
day different from other days will be equally apparent from the 
physiological standpoint. But if a difference is to be made, 
the effect of the change should be the criterion of its legitimacy. 
It is our belief that psychology and physiology both advocate 
a holy day of rest, and that if parents felt the need of such a 
day, and its import, the character of the day would seldom 
appear so irksome to the child; for his appreciation of the day 
would be greater, and his liberties wider. 

Articles Made or Attempted. 

Although question V asks the pupils to ' ' describe any play- 
thing''' they had made, it is surprising to find so few games 
have been made; a few puzzles and checker boards are about 
all. There are, however, a large number of toys which are 
miniature copies of things in the child's environment, and 
which form the material basis of many of his plays; there are 
the dolls and toy animals, the houses, the water wheels and 
other machines, the sleds, boats, carts, the wooden axes and 
other model tools, the sword and gun. These are the things 
most commonly made by children; and they touch human life 
on all sides. Of the toys made, not included in this class, the 
majority are those that develop skill and self-mastery on the 
part of the user; the ball, top, stilts, snowshoes, and many 
kinds of gymnastic apparatus belong to this class. 



38 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

As the children approach the "teens" a tendency arises, 
that is well expressed by one of the girls, who no longer makes 
playthings, but " things that are useful." Under this class are 
included the articles for Decoration as well as for Use; things 
for personal adornment, to beautify the school or home, and 
even various foods. This whole list, as may be seen, by no 
means begins to reach the limit of what the child may make, 
though it is suggestive both to the framer of a course in manual, 
training and to a teacher looking for suggestions for her daily 
work.^ 

I. For Play. 

/ . Games. 

By Boys: — Puzzles 14, Marble game i. 

By Girls: — Puzzles 4, Anagrams i, Checkers i, "Game similar to 
checkers" i, Old Maids (cut from paper) i, Dominoes i. 

2. Dolls and Doll Toys. 

By Boys: — Dolls 31, Many, Soldier 4, Indian i. (Material used, paper, 
wood, clothes pins, and potatoes). Jumping Jack 4, Clothespin Fighter 
2, Hat I, Boot I, Doll Furniture 53, (chairs, tables, beds, benches, 
cradles, swings, cupboards, dishes. Material, paper, pasteboard, wood, 
clay.) 

By Girls: — Dolls 304. (Materials, rags, paper, wood, clothes pin, pipe, 
stick, peanuts). Jumping Jack 3, Doll's Clothing 252 (dress, apron, 
waist, cap, bonnet, hat, cape, skirt, petticoat, cloak, pocket in dress, 
quilt, shoes, slippers, bloomers, doll's outfit). Doll's Furniture 141. 
(Bed, chair, rocking chair, high chair, sofa, table, dishes, carriage, 
cradle, bureau, hammock, pillow, mattress, stove, candlestick, tin 
looking-glass, wooden tub, benches, rope, knives and forks. Material, 
paper, wood, pasteboard, clay, burdocks.) 

J. Toy Animals. 
By Boys: — Horse 12, cat 9, Snake 3, Animals 2, Dog, Elephant, Fox, 

^Mr. James P. Upham, who for over twenty-five years has been con- 
nected with the premium department of The Vouth's Companion, 
states that for prizes the boys are most likely to choose " something 
they can make something or do something with, or to earn something 
with;" thus the scroll saw has been by far the most successful pre- 
mium ever offered by the paper ; likewise the most popular premium 
for girls has been the Kensington Patterns (for art work). The fol- 
lowing list includes the most popular premiums as determined during 
a period of twenty to thirty years : The camera (at present), micros- 
copes and telescopes, magic lanterns, soldering casket, glass cutter, 
pocket tool-holder, outfit for making initial jewelry, carving tools, 
pocket knives, materials for building canoes, Florentine Bent Iron 
Work, Weeden's Engine, materials for a model motor, toilet hair clip- 
pers, oil painting outfit, water colors, etc., celluloid decorating outfit, 
dolls, collection of puzzles, megaphone, printing press, and certain 
books. In general, "educative" toys were considered unsuccessful 
as premiums, as also were electric toys on the whole. The latter were 
not nearly as popular as steam toys. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 39 

Goat, Monkey, Owl, Oxeu, one each. Material, wood, paper, paste- 
board and potatoes. 

By Girls: — Cat 7, Horse 6, Sheep 3, Baboon 3, Rat 2, Dog 2, Duck 2, 
Bird, Cla}- Animals, Cow, Fish, Oxen, Pig and Tiger, one each. Mat- 
erial, paper, rags, cloth, wood, handkerchiefs, pussy willows, and 
potatoes. 

4.. Model Toys. 

By Boys: — House, Tent 125, Snow Fort 8, Lighthouse 2, Bridge, 
Church, Depot, vSaw Mill, and Small Farm, one each, Cart 138, Whip 
5, Reins 5, Harness 3, Gig 3, Coasting Cart i. Sail for coasting cart i. 
Goat Harness i, Bicycle 6, Engine, Cars, etc., 9, Railroad Track 4. 
Boats 205, includes toy boats of all kinds, birch bark canoes, used for 
models, and also raft and boats for actual use made or attempted by 
boys in their terms. Sled 151. The returns did not always distinguish 
the toy sleds from those made for use. Toboggan 6, Sleigh i, Sledge 
I, Ladder 30, Axe and Hatchet 15, Fork 9, Knife and Fork i, Shovel 
7, Snow Shovel 3, Circle Saw 6, Hammer (wood) 3, Spoons 2, Rake 2, 
Spade I, Billy i, Acorn Pipes 18, Cob Pipes 8, Orange Skin Teeth 4, 
Clock 2, Wire Spectacles i. Money i, Sword 66, Knife 47, Gun and 
Pistol 28, Bow and Arrow 16, Bow Gun 3, Soldier's Hat 10, Cannon 4, 
Spear 3, Tomahawk 2, Drum, Fife, Flag, Lariat, Marble Gun, and 
Shield, one each. 

By Girls: — House, tent 68, Snow House 4, Log Cabin i, Hut i, 
ighthouse 2, Toothpick House i, Doll Park i. Bank i. Cart 9, Reins 
7, Harness i, Engine i, Boat 58, Sleds 21, Ladder 2, Saw, Rake, Spoon, 
Tin Scissors i each, Clock 3, Eye Glasses 3, Pipe i, Knife 10, Sword 4, 
Gun I. The material used by boys was commonly wood, by girls 
paper. 

5. Mechanical Toys. 

By Boys : — Water Wheel and Water Hammer 20, Sand Wheel 2, 
Trip Hammer i, Derrick 9, Scales 9, Theater 8, Elevator 5, Machines 
4, Shafting i. Shaft-holder i, Train signal switches, etc., i. Piece of 
tin with two holes through which passes a string; pull the string and 
it will cut 10, Kite 39, Pin Wheel, Windmill (wood) 3, Balloon 9, Air 
Ship I, Electrical Apparatus i. Batteries 10, Motor 7, Dynamo, Elec- 
tric Car, Holtz Machine, Induction Coil, Incandescent Light, Switch 
Board, Telegraph, one each, Telephone 16, Camera 5, Sketching Cam- 
era I, Magic Lantern, Jack Lantern 21, Sling Shot 16, '• Stopple," 
feather dart 12, Tic Tac ir. Pop Gun 2, Force Pump 2, Pea Shooter i, 
Traps 12, Fish-rods 3, Fish-lines i, Whistles 26, Clappers 8, Violin 2, 
Banjo 2, Drumstick i, Wooden Drum to use in school i. 

By Girls: — Scales 4, String through button or tin cover — twist 
thread and then pull it i, Kite 12, Pin Wheel 7, Windmill (paper) 3, 
Telephone 6, Feather Dart i, Cat's Rattle i, Horn 2, Accordion, Guitar, 
Violin, one each. 

6 . Toys for Physical Exercise. 

By Boys : — Ball 42, covering a ball was too difficult for one boy of 
fifteen. Top 26, Marbles (clay) 10, Bat 7, Foot-ball 3, Horse Shoe 
Rings 5, Bean Bag i. Boomerang i. Bowling Alley i. Stilts 25, Snow- 
shoes 9, Skees 7, '"'Jumper" 2, Skates i. Ice Boat i. Swing 4, Ham- 
mock I, Boxing Gloves 4, Diving Board 4, Apparatus for high jump- 
ing, Vaulting Pole, Pounding Bag, Chest Weights, Trapeze, Exerciser, 
one each. 

By Girls:— Bean Bag 13, Ball 9, Top (spool and paper) 4, Marbles 
I, Bat I, Parlor Croquet Set I, Stilts (of tomato can) 5 (of wood) 3, 
Snowshoes i. Swing 13, Hammock 4, See Saw i. 



40 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

II. Articles for Use. 

By Boys: — Picture Frames, Bookcase 3, Book Shelf i, Writing 
Desk 2, Desk i, Ink Stand 2, Shelf 2, Bracket i, Music Rack i, Music 
Stand I, Blackboard 2, Pool Table i. Bench 3, Hammock Frames i, 
Towel Rack i, Step Ladder i, Snuff Box, Cricket i, Hen Coop 7, 
Pigeon House 6, Bird House 2, Bird Cage i, Cage for Animals 4, Dog 
House 2, Rabbit House 2, Fly Cage 2, Squirrel House i, Canvas Shel- 
ter I, Carpenter Shop i, Bicycle Stand i, Canes 5, Sun Dial 3, Fence 
I, Fence Picket i, Fireplace i, Furnace of Brick i, Keg i, Saw Horse 
6, Sharpen Chisel i, Tool Chests, Weather Vane i, Candle Mold i, 
Bullet Mold I. Material for the most part, wood. Pictures 10, Val- 
entines 5, Paint Flowers i, Drawing (failed repeatedly on some par- 
ticular object) 2, Paper Hats and Caps 6, Fans (wood) 7, Chain 3, 
A Book I, Envelopes 2, Initials i. Horse Hair Rings i. Braid Hair 
(failed) 2, Sewing (failed repeatedly) 9, Compasses 2, Cotton Gin 2, 
Pulp Map 2, Wood Map i. Writing Book, Australian Hut, and Ruler, 
one each, Candy 2, Gum i. 

By Girls: — Aprons 7, Dress 7, Dress Pattern 2, Crochet Dress i. Coat 

1, Coat Pattern i. Collar i, Sunshade 6, Trim Hat i, Straw Hat i, Quilt 
5, Fan 2, Stockings 2, Mittens i, Handkerchief i, Finger Ring i, 
Bags 3, Lamp Mats 3, Mats 2, Blankets, Bookcase, Bureau, Ladles, 
Pillow Shams, Poker, Rug, " Things that are useful," one each, Val- 
entines 18, Landscape 12, Copy Portraits 2, Sketch faces 2, Easter 
Eggs 2, Pictures of objects, as cat, flowers 3, Write books (attempted) 

2, Write Poem i. Soldiers' Caps 4, Envelopes 3, Scrap Book 2, Ball, 
Book, Boat, Card Case, Fans, Fire Hat, Glove Box, Lantern, Love 
Boxes, Paper Pulp, Picture Book, Ring, Silver Heart, one each; 
material, paper. Fancy Work 135, includes Crocheting, Lace, Knit- 
ting, Sewing, and the following articles : Picture Frames, Tidies, 
Cushions, Pin Cushions, Pen Wipers, Dressing Case Covers, Tassels, 
Sofa Pillows, Bead Rings, Tray Cloth; Chains (paper and daisy) 5, 
Wreaths (leaves) 5, Peach stone Baskets, Fancy Bottle, Initials (cut 
from wood and framed), one each. Compass 2, Ruler 2, Map, Nail 
Map, Pulp Map, Pen from quill. School Bell, one each, Cake 7, Candy 
5, Bread 2, Pie 2, Pudding 2, Ice Cream i, Lemon Candy i. Molasses 
Candy i. 

It is not to be supposed that any one child will make all of 
these things. Yet some children are quite likely to make a 
great number of them, and the variety and care with which 
they are made will be an important index of the child's capacity. 
Most children will, however, imitate the things made by their 
friends, striving to do as well or better; the genius with his 
original work is not the type of the child any more than of the 
adult. Hence the necessity of much of the work being sug- 
gested by the teacher. 

The most successful attempt I have ever seen at original and 
careful manual work in the school, was in a fifth grade in 
Worcester, Mass., where a bright, progressive teacher, acting 
on a suggestion thrown out in a public lecture by Dr. Hall, 
told her pupils that they might make and place on exhibition 
in the schoolroom anything they chose. The best example of 
carefully and intelligentl}' co-ordinated work was in the Cook 
County Normal School. In that school, particularly in the 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 4 1 

lower grades, where there is greater need of supervision, the 
manual work is generally outlined by the teacher, and made 
to help out and illustrate other work of the school, while in 
the higher grades the pupils are allowed to make whatever 
they wish, provided their plans receive the approval of their 
teachers. 

The Child's Point of View. 

No one has ever received the best reward from child study 
unless he has been led to a keener appreciation of childhood, 
and to a deeper and more genuine love for the child. The 
characteristics of his play may be outlined as has been done 
in this paper; the spirit of his play can be caught only by the 
person who can play with the child and enjoy the play; a touch 
of this spirit, however, may be found in the words of these 
children concerning their own amusements. In the following 
paragraphs quotations are made from the answers of the 
children. 

I. Reasons for Not Using Certain Amusements. 

" I like games. I don't like toys because they are no good." G. 10. 

" Because I 'm too big." G. 11. 

" My favorite toys are dolls, but I do not use them very much be- 
cause I am getting too old for them." G. 13. 

"I used to play with dolls, but I have outgrown them. I think I 
was about four years old when I played dolls." G. 13. 

" I cannot say that I am really tired of my childhood pastimes, al- 
though, of course, I do not indulge in them now." B. 17. 

"The toys I like best are Brownies, printing press, electric motor, 
scroll saw, Welch's steam engine, type writer, tool chest, small shot 
gun, and a rifle. The reason I like to play with these toys, because 
these are toys for bigger children and the others are for babies and 
other small children. Also for another reason, you can use some of 
these toys and gain money on them." B. 11. 

"I like a ball, foot-ball, and used to like tops and marbles, but do 
not now. I like baseball and foot-ball because I receive much enjoy- 
ment from them, and I come together with my friends, and time is 
very pleasantly passed." B. 14. 

" I do not use the toys that I like best because I want to save it." 
B. II. 

" I don't play with my toys and games that I like best because I 
have to help my mother all the time." G. 12. 

"I don't play my favorite games, because no one wants to play." 
G. 12. 

II. Reasons for Preferences in Amusements. 

" Marbles, Ball, Top. I don't know why I like to play those best." 
B. II. 

" I like these toys best, because I have played with them most." 
B. 12. 

"I have no favorite play. I play games with the other children 
whether I like the game or not." G. 11. 

" I play the game I like when the other boys want to." B. 13. 



42 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

" I do what the rest happen to want to do, and I can never tell what 
that will be. G. 14. 

" I like to spin a top because it is fun to hear it hum." B. 8. 

"I like a train of cars best because I can make them go when I 
run." B. 9. 

" Because I like to hit the other boys' tops and break them." B. 8. 

" I like to play with a pea-blower and pop a hen on a leg, and the 
hen goes just like a sprained leg." B. 9. 

" I like to play with a gun. Sometimes I swipe my father's gun and 
kill birds. Once the first time I swipet it I killed my cat and the kik 
of it knock me down." B. 11. 

I like blocks best because I can build houses and castles with 
them." B. 10. 

" I like swords because I heard of brave men. I like lances because 
I read of Mohammedans and Christians." B. 8. 

" I like to play with my dolls because I make believe they are alive. 
I like to play with my cart because I make believe I am a horse and 
have somebody for a master." G. 8. 

"The playthings I like the best to play with are my kittens, my 
dog. I like these the best of all because they are alive and can move; 
dolls cannot move nor walk, so I do not like to play with them." 
G. 13. 

" I like to play with a dog because the dog plays with me." B. 11. 

" I like to play with a doll because I can pretend it is my baby." 

G. 7. 

" I like a doll, a doll carriage, a doll bed, a doll hammock, a doll 
trunk, a doll kitchen, a doll house and other furnishings. A house 
because it is so like a big lady and a big house." G. 10. 

" I like dolls because you can make believe you are their mother, 
and send them away and to school, and have lots of fun. Paper dolls, 
because you can make pretty paper dresses for them." G. 14. 

"I like to play with dolls when we are many to play, but now I 
don't care much for dolls. We often make party and eat in little 
toy dishes. I like to eat in small dishes because I think the food 
tastes better." G. 13. 

" I like to race on foot because you can get a price." B. 8. 

" I like to play marbles because you can get lots of them." B. 10. 

" Bat ball. Because it makes my muscles strong." B. 8. 

" I like to ride a bicycle because your muscles will be hard." B. 13. 

" I like a drum to play because if I could play so when I would be 
a man I would be in a band " B. 12. 

" I like to play show to do tricks." B. 12. 

" I like a bicycle because it makes me strong and I like to do tricks 
on it." B. 12. 

" I like to play with my drum because all the people look at us." 
B. II. 

" The toy that I like is fish-pond, because it shows whose hand is 
the most steady. I like to play checkers because it shows who has 
the most skill." B. 14. 

" I jump rope to see if I can jump as long as the others." G. 10. 

" I like to play tag because I won't get caught." G. 10. 

" I like my little express to make off I am a little expressman. I 
have got an old cowboy's hat and a sword and I make off I am a 
cowboy. I go through the road with my wagon as fast as I can go, 
and I scare all the little fellows." B. 12. 

" I like to dance so as to be in a show." G. 11. 

" I like to skate because one day I can be a fancy skater." G. 13. 

" I like to play a piano because we can take music lessons. Then 
you can go to play in the churches and in shows." G. 13. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 43 

"The best game was tag because there was running in it." G. 11. 

" I like a bicycle because I can go on it very fast and race with other 
boys." B. II. 

"I like carpenter tools best because you can make little wagons, 
chairs." B. 11. 

" I like my tool chest because I can make some little tables for my 
little sister." B. 13. 

"I like to play checkers because my papa plays with me." G. 9. 

" I like to sew dresses on my sister's doll because I love to cut out 
patterns of capes, skirt, also waist, and many other things. My mother 
lets me sew them on the machine. I enjoy it. Sometimes she buys 
me some aprons and I make them myself. I love the machine very 
much." G. 14. 

"The reason I like these toys is that I think there is a great deal of 
fun in them. They take the lonesomeuess away from you." G. 13. 

" Such toys as checkers, dominoes and tiddledewinks, I like these 
toys because one can sit down and have some fun, but still be rest- 
ing." G. 13. 

" I like to fly kites the best. Because I do not have to be running 
around all the time and will not get sweaty." B. 10. 

To the reader who has noted these words of children, it will 
be apparent that the reasons given do not always explain. 
But inasmuch as the most careful students have not yet evolved 
a satisfactory theory of play, it is no wonder that the child 
sometimes fails to tell just why he plays certain games. Yet 
on the whole, in the light of this study, some of these answers 
show a wonderful power of introspection, and marvellous ac- 
curacy. 

As the child begins to grow beyond the normal age for a 
certain kind of amusement, the child assumes a scornful atti- 
tude toward it; he is " too big; " it is "a baby game," and 
although only last year he played it as hard as ever he could, 
plays it occasionally even now in thoughtless moments, it seems 
to him something very remote. Thus the child's estimate of 
the age at which he played certain games, is likely to be one 
or two years less than it has been shown to be. And up to a 
certain limit the older the child, the older it thinks it was when 
it last played a given amusement, e. ^., the nine year old boys 
from a certain school state that they ' ' played horse ' ' when 
five years of age, the ten year olds when six or seven, those 
of eleven at seven, those of twelve at eight, and one boy of 
fourteen remembered that at eleven he still played horse. 

Can any one doubt that the little boy of eleven likes best to 
play marbles, ball and tops, even though he is unable to tell 
why ? Does it not seem probable that many a child likes best 
those things with which he "plays most?" Many a child 
plays but seldom with the toy he would prefer, because " some- 
times one would want to play one game and some one else 
another," and so he " does what the rest want to do, and can 
never tell what that will be." Many games would be justified 



44 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

if they did nothing more than ofiFer ' ' an opportunity^ for friends 
to come together ' ' so that ' ' time is very pleasantly passed. ' ' 
One play may be good for a boy because he can " run," show 
off, ' ' get muscle," and yet not detract from the value of a game 
in which " one does not get sweaty," or in which one "can 
enjoy oneself and rest at the same time." There is pleasure 
in things that " are alive," that move, that " make a noise; " 
there is also pleasure and profit in taking the small, inanimate 
toy and endowing it with life, in feeling at once its companion, 
its creator and its master. How many a boy who at ten years 
of age, feeling all over the power within him, " pops a hen on 
the leg," or " kills birds " or finds it " such fun to run into 
something" with his little express, "and tip them all out if 
he can," has unjustly been considered unnaturally cruel? 
What a wide range and what clear backgrounds are given to 
his ideas as in imaginative games he builds " houses and 
castles," and reproduces life about him, and the past and pres- 
ent in history and fiction ? The little eight year old runs his 
race to " get a price," and he likes the race. Ever since Saint 
Paul's day it has seemed good to "so run that ye may obtain." 
And these children, more and more as the)' approach those 
years when the adolescent soul yearns for the wider, richer 
things which it glimpses but grasps not, place before them- 
selves something to be obtained, some end to be reached, and 
find a genuine, wholesome pleasure in the attempt to attain 
this ideal, and in the anticipation which accompanies this 
attempt. 

Application of Study. 

What is the significance of this study ? That depends both 
on the attitude and the experience of the reader. The princi- 
pal points of value are here presented as they appear to me. 

Much emphasis has already been laid upon the place of 
amusements in the development of mental life.^ It is vastly 
more important that teachers and parents see that conditions 
are favorable for the profitable employment of the child's leisure 
time than that they graft " the play instinct " upon the meth- 
ods used in the school. Later we shall indicate how some of 
the special facts brought out by this study may be utilized in 
the school room; now we wish to laj^ stress on the greatest 
"school of infancy," free play. From no other source does 
the child learn so much that is of permanent value in after life 
as in those hours spent in play apart from the direct influence 
of adults. Yet the value of this play may vary much accord- 

^ Compare Baldwin: Mental Development. N. Y., 1897. pp. 
129-147. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 45 

ing to conditions imposed by the child's elders. // becomes, 
then, the duty of parents and of society to provide that, as far as 
possible, the most favorable conditions shall exist for the proper 
kind of amusement ^ at the proper time in every child' s life. 

It has been shown that the early part of life is largely given 
up to individual development, to acquiring mastery over self, 
and to the comprehension and mastery of the physical environ- 
ment in which the child is placed. It is necessary that he 
should have a chance to try his strength, exercise his skill, 
and satisfy his curiosity and imagination in every way. He 
must have toys and objects of many different kinds which his 
imagination may transform in imitation of the realities about 
him, or upon which he can exercise his skill. Are these con- 
ditions always found ? 

As the child grows older human society enters more and 
more into his development. The influence of companions of 
the same age, of one's peers in actual life, is the foundation 
of society. This rubbing together while engaged in what are 
to them the realities of life, is the essential factor at the base of 
every rational attempt to develop in the young principles of 
good citizenship. Concrete examples are the George Junior 
Republic at Freeville, N. Y., and the scheme of self-govern- 
ment followed in the Chicago Normal School. In both of these 
exceptionally successful attempts at self-government among 
minors, the actual life of the community has been the founda- 
tion. Their failures have been where there was a conflict be- 
tween the theoretical and the actual conditions. The school 
itself is in manj- waj'S an ideal social communit3^ and may be 
organized along lines which touch its own life in a most effect- 
ive manner. But children detect sham. The moment a school 
claims to be an artificial city or government which it is not, it 
becomes less effective in training for citizenship than if not so 
organized. At the George Junior Republic, where the writer 
spent two months in the summer of 1897, the conditions were 
ideal for a community founded on the model of the United States 
government. The children were from a class of societ}' where 
they had already faced the problems of securing an existence 
and met the temptation and crime. More than most children 
they were prepared for the rough conditions of the camp life 
at The Republic. It was for most of them a fairer opportunity 
for existence than they had hitherto enjoyed. They recognized 
the reality of their life under slightly' changed conditions, and 
also, as never before, realized that they were a part of the social 
whole. But notwithstanding that in most respects " the citizen 

^Throughout I have used the word "amusements" as almost 
synonymous with " activities." 



46 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

of the Republic " was a true citizen, it was impossible to dis- 
guise the fact that at times there was a power over them which 
did not originate among themseh^es, and which at times caused 
many to feel that all was a sham. In a school any such diver- 
sity between the actual and pretended conditions must make 
itself felt injuriously. Hence the recognition by the teacher 
of her schoolroom as a true social body, the members of which 
can be led to recognize their mutual duties and privileges — a 
result often accomplished by a skillful teacher — is much to be 
preferred to anj^ artificial government which can be formulated. 

Another problem which confronted the George Junior Repub- 
lic was what to do with the younger members. The majority 
of the citizens had already reached their teens; but the few 
below twelve years of age, almost without exception, did not 
readily adapt themselves to citizenship. Their social instincts 
were not fully enough developed to warrant placing upon them 
the full responsibilities of citizenship even in a junior republic. 
The problem was solved by making the younger children wards 
of some citizen of twelve or more. This is empirical proof 
that the conditions, favorable for one age, may be unsuited to 
an earlier age, and is a caution against too elaborate schemes 
of self-government at too early an age in our schools. 

Certain conditions of society tend to develop a child along one 
line to the neglect of another. Thus the country school while 
it favors the development of a strong individual character, fre- 
quently does not furnish as good an opportunity of developing 
co-operation as the city school; but there is more danger that 
the large classes of the cities may force the social development 
upon the child at too early an age; at an age when he is not 
yet ripe for it. Apart from the social demands, the needs of 
physical development make it most important that during the 
years from 9 to 12 every child should have plenty of com- 
panions, and suitable places in which to play these active run- 
ning games which do so much to give final control over self, as 
well as the right spirit toward one's fellows. The child should 
also be supplied or, better, be allowed to supply himself, with 
those toys which tend to foster the physical exercises popular 
with the young at this period. Rousseau's estimate of the 
importance of such games is found in the following letter to 
D' Albert: 

' ' In my time children were brought up in a rustic fashion, 
and had no complexions to keep. . . . Timid and modest 
before the old, they were bold, haughty, combative among 
themselves; they had no curled locks to be careful of, they 
defied one another at wrestling, running and boxing. The}^ 
returned home sweaty, out of breath, torn; they were true 
blackguards, if you will, but they made men who have zeal 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 47 

in their hearts to serve their country and blood to shed for her. 
May we be able to say as much one day of our fine little gentle- 
men, and may these men at fifteen not turn out children at 
thirty." ' 

This study is emphatic in its proof that one purpose of edu- 
cation, one of the aims of the school, is to prepare for proper 
employment of leisure moments. Child life is largely made up 
of such moments. And in no class of society do the long 
hours of work (often fourteen or fifteen hours per day) of our 
grandfathers now prevail ; as a people we can say as never 
before, " our time is our own." How to use this time is one 
of the serious problems of to-da}'. It will leave its trace in 
our physical being, in our moral and mental make-up, in 
national character. The increased interest in athletics of all 
kinds and in out-door sports during recent years shows how 
this problem has forced itself forward; so, too, the many 
schemes for self-culture in the more favored homes, and the 
settlement work among the less favored districts of our large 
cities. The school has already done much, especially in the 
direction of developing " a many-sided interest," to recognize 
and meet this problem. Wherever literature, music, drawing, 
manual training, nature study, or any other branch of the 
curriculum has been so taught that a child has come to appre- 
ciate more fully the richness of the world of nature and man 
about him, and especially when he has acquired skill enough 
so that along any of these lines he can do something, however 
slight — can give some expression to his creative powers — the 
school has lent its aid to the formation of habits which will 
influence the whole future of that child's life. With the adult, 
even more than with the child, amusements are habitual. 
Hence must the school take into consideration the effect of its 
work, in the formation of conditions that will affect the play 
of the children to-day, and determine to a large extent their 
habits of amusement when men and women grown. The 
school will either develop activities which will persist, or it 
will prevent, by over-stimulation of certain interests, others 
that ought to persist. Consider for a moment these words of 
an exceedingly able high school boy of fifteen, and a hard stu- 
dent: " I never made anything — never had time." There is 
something almost pathetic in these words. There is also a 
great deal of truth in them; for though he generally led his 
class, he was compelled to study early and late, and, although 
he was supposd to have all that indulgent parents could give, 
his home environment did not favor manual work of any kind. 

Realizing, then, that to prepare for the right use of leisure 

^Morley: Rousseau, Vol. I, p. 21. 



48 AMUSEMENTS OP WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

moments is one of the aims of school life, let us consider how 
this Study may be applied, first to the course of study and then 
to the methods of the schoolroom; without, however, distin- 
guishing sharply between method and content. 

In many kindergarlens much stress is laid upon the unity of 
the ring and the unity of effort, and properly so. But although 
much work in common may be expected of children of this age, 
the period has not yet arrived for advanced co-operation, and 
there is danger that the social ideals of an adult may be made 
to take the place of those natural to this period of life. This 
danger is especially great in an age when the popular interest 
in sociology is so great as at present. Yet in few other ways 
do the followers of the great Froebel depart from his teachings 
further than when thej' emphasize the kindergarten as the 
place for social development rather than individual.^ We 
think this study shows in its curves something of the true or- 
der of nascent periods; the order will be found to agree closely 
with that laid down by Froebel himself, though with greater 
definiteness. It shows that ' ' boyhood ' ' rather than ' ' child- 
hood " is the time when social instincts are strongest. " Boy- 
hood " is the time when "they seek the laws lying in the 
material of the play, and adapt themselves to these, or they 
obey laws lying in the thoughts and feelings of the human 

iProf. Colozza, of the Normal School at Naples, in his book entitled 
Play in Pedagogy^ advocates less interference with the free play of the 
kindergarten child, and warns against starting the child into plays 
at too early an age before the natural inclination for such pla)' has 
developed. 

Another eminent Italian, Guiseppe Sergi, is quoted against the com- 
mon practice in kindergartens by Dr. A. F. Chamberlain. {Ped. Sent., 
Vol. II, p. 474.) "Suggestion in education has its limits. At an 
age when mental activity is in process of development, certain proce- 
dures may have grave and dangerous results — the brain, continually 
waiting for suggestion after the first, may be arrested and remain in 
habitual inertia ; a narrow and restricted limit of cerebral activity 
may be created ; a species of mental parasitism may arise ; too clear 
a road and too easy a passage may be traced out for mental activity, 
which will natually result in diminishing the individual mental varia- 
tions which are the best advantage possible for the development of the 
mind and for the evolution of its products ; just as in the case of the 
muscles, the cerebral functions, accustomed to be guided step by step, 
will cease to be prompt and quick, and in children there will be estab- 
lished real inertia, the result of hindering proper functional develop- 
ment. The Frobelian method is weighted down with these defects, for, 
while seemingly desiring to allow liberty and independence of mental 
activity in children, in reality it suppresses them." . . . " In the 
use of plays and games suggested or made by the instructors, and of 
which the children are merely the automatic executors, the same 
method of suggestion continues, which ruins the natural development 
of the children, tends to equalize them all and to abolish all initiative 
and individuality." 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOI, CHII^DREN. 49 

being. "1 But of "childhood " he says: " It is impossible to 
establish among the various stages of human development and 
cultivation any definite order with reference to their relative 
degree of importance, except the necessary order of succession 
in their appearance in which the earlier is always the more im- 
portant. In its place and time each stage is equally important. 
Nevertheless, inasmuch as it contains the development of the 
first points of connection and union with surrounding persons 
and things, the first approaches toward their interpretation and 
understanding toward the comprehension of their inner being, 
this stage (of childhood) is of paramount importance. 
Therefore, the child at this period should see all things rightly 
and accurately, definitely and clearly; and this applies to things 
and objects themselves, as well as to their nature and properties. ^ 
The following is his opinion of the effect of activities unsuited 
toan earlier stage of development; "He (the child) is much 
injured and weakened by having placed before himself at an 
early period, an extraneous aim for imitation and exertion, 
such as preparation for a certain calling or sphere of activity! 
The child, the boy, the man indeed, should know no other en- 
deavor but to be at every stage of development wholly what 
this stage calls for. "^ This caution is of value higher up than 
the kindergarten. 

The object of the first few years of school life is to further 
the development of the child, not to make him a full-fledged 
citizen. The perfect individual must precede the perfect state. 
Hence the first few years at school must deal largely with the 
immediate sensuous environment of the child and with his 
relation to it. He must be guided to a fuller knowledge of 
things around him— of what he can do with them, of what 
they may do to him— and this knowledge will include many ot 
the simpler duties owed to those about him. Toys and objects 
of all kinds should be used freely as means of expression— to 
help tell the story of life about him— to help comprehend it. 
Much manual work should be encouraged, but it should 
neither be too accurate nor too delicate. Rough imitations of 
things about him, made of any material that is at hand and 
can be readily manipulated, are probably the best things to 
make, e. g., toy men and women, animals, houses, furniture, 
dresses, machines, etc. Many of these are the natural toys of 
childhood. 

During the middle and latter part of the elementary school 
grades especially between the years from nine to twelve, much 

1 Education of Man. p. 303. 

2 Education of Man p. 50. 
^ Ibid., p. 30. 



50 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

more attention should be given to physical development than 
is now common in schools. Our curves show this to be the 
time of greatest physical activity. Kline in his study on Tru- 
ancy^ tells how the desire to get away from the restraining 
influence of school and to do something has sent many a boy 
to the reform school. The success of the methods used in 
some of the most progressive reform schools, where the hours 
ordinarily devoted to literary subjects in our common schools 
are shortened and much manual work added with gratifying 
results, proves experimentally the soundness of this suggestion. 

This is the period for the acquirement of manual skill and 
dexterity. The child likes to do things for the pleasure in 
doing, in learning to do new things and in showing that he is 
able to do them. At this period he should learn to do many 
things, should lay the foundation of skill along many lines. 
This is the period rich in possibilities, ripe for the formation of 
varied associations, according to the latest investigations of 
neurology. 

Hence, not only should there be a great diversity of physical 
exercise, but a great variety of general ideas should also be 
apprehended in their simpler associations. lyiterature and 
nature study offer the widest possibilities along this line, and 
at the same time form the best content for the study of lan- 
guage. The meaning of ideas previously gained should be 
broadened, and new relations formed and new ideas introduced 
from a wider field. Perhaps at no time in school life should 
the range of the curriculum be as general. 

In the next period is the birth of adolescence with all that 
means of new, far-reaching thoughts and feelings. Things 
begin to have new meanings and new purposes, and aspirations 
are formed — ends far away are sought. Less frequently is the 
activity in itself sufficient. Effort becomes concentrated. The 
course of study at this time should gradually become better 
co-ordinated into a few and more distinct groups, but should 
not suddenly confine the interest of the pupils to the three or 
four studies of the first year in the high school, as is now 
common. Thus to imprison the interests of the children 
within such narrow and forbidding walls is as unreasonable 
and criminal as were some of England's laws a century ago. 

Although many speak of introducing the play spirit into 
school and of teaching everything by means of play, no one 
knows better than the teacher that all the child's activity is 
not play — in the sense of the free sportiveness of animals. 
Many of its amusements are serious for the child as well as for 
the adult. He must feel the importance of the task at hand, 

^ Ped. Sent., VoL V, p. 147. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 5 1 

and the interest in the result continues to increase with every 
additional year. 

In the earlier years before eight or nine, the largest possible 
use of all sorts of objects should be made. There are two 
main purposes which these fulfill: first, to gain new impres- 
sions, for which actual objects are preferable; secondly, as a 
means of expressing the stock of ideas already obtained and of 
broadening them. For this latter purpose, the rough imitative 
toys just mentioned on pages 250-252 or pictures may be of 
greater value, as they can be more readily handled and com- 
prehended by the child. Common objects such as stones, 
leaves, flowers, pieces of paper, burdocks, etc. , may be used as 
furniture, building material, dishes, money, and in countless 
other ways to great advantage. Especially will this be possible 
in the rural schools, which are less able to purchase supplies of 
a more elaborate character; and the gain in the capacity to use 
material at hand will be a distinct advantage to the child when 
later he is compelled, with limited resources, to face the prob- 
lems of life. 

The next period is really one of the richest in the develop- 
ment of the child. If in the earlier stage the training of his 
senses has been thorough and his impressions many, at this 
period it will be possible to gather these into u.sable form, and 
through them to apperceive much knowledge which will be a 
foundation for future effective creative work. Considering the 
great variety of definite amusements at this period, and the 
way in which these are played, we get a clue to the method 
of covering the wide field demanded, without overburdening 
the child with a multitude of subjects at one time. It is the 
method of treating some particular phase of a subject quite 
intensively for a time, as if it were an entire field in itself, and 
then dropping it for something related perhaps, but in turn 
considered as a whole. Literature and Nature have been 
referred to as especially adapted to this treatment. Social 
tendencies should now be fostered more than before. Things 
made, more than earlier, should have some use to which they 
can be put. Mechanical toys and toys for physical exercise 
are well adapted for part of the manual work of this period. 
The possible use of things at hand, which on both an economic 
and an ethical basis should be encourged at all stages, should 
now be taught with the greatest care, for this is a period of 
exceptional possibilities along this line. 

From the thirteenth year the child's amusements take on a 
decidedly co-operative and competitive character, and his efforts 
are more and more confined to the accomplishment of some 
definite aim. The course for this period will concentrate the 
effort upon fewer lines. A subject which on account of interest 



52 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOI. CHILDREN. 

might better have been treated in a few days or weeks in a lower 
grade, may now well occupy several months of more careful 
and deeper study. The result now demands greater attention, 
and the best work should always be insisted upon. Societies 
and associations of all kinds which favor this co-operation to 
accomplish some worthy end are to be encouraged now as 
never before. Nor can this well be separated from the spirit 
of emulation which has been found to be so characteristic of 
this period. A trait so prominent certainly justifies the Roman 
Quintilian in placing the love of emulation among the most 
important feeling upon which the teacher has a right to call; 
for it is only through the desire to do or make something, to 
show one's superiority or power over something or some person, 
to overcome some obstacle, that the individual, the nation, or 
the race makes progress. This same desire for mastery is 
present in fullest strength just at this age. It is the basis of 
the healthy rivalry of members, most often of a small group, 
in which each takes pride in the superior quality of his work. 
The same thing fostered by machine promotions, becomes the 
feverish pursuit of ' ' marks ' ' so often found in large schools 
where it appears not as a friendly contest with one's peers for 
acknowledged superiority giving constant opportunity for pride 
in personal merit, but a blind struggle to attain another end — 
a " passing mark." On the one side it develops " a pride o' 
worth ' ' and the power to maintain one's self independently, and 
without asking odds; on the other, when the end receives too 
much emphasis, are found the seeds of dishonesty. The system 
of ranking, so prevalent in the great public school systems, makes 
it possible to find many, perhaps the majority of the pupils 
look upon the attaining of a set mark in their studies as the 
highest aim of their school work; to find principals who place 
a report containing few records of discipline or absence above 
the mental and physical health of their pupils, and superintend- 
ents who insist upon these conditions in order that their reports 
may be pleasing to the people. 

There is no reason why throughout the course much of the 
work to be done should not be the snaking of toys such as chil- 
dren covimonly 7ise. The character of these will be seen more 
specifically by examining the list of things made. In the 
earlier years these will be for the most part simple representa- 
tions of the living and inanimate things about them; later on 
may be made to advantage toys which are means of developing 
strength or skill, as for example those used in baseball or foot- 
ball; and still later will come the making of articles of use in 
themselves, as for decoration, use at home, etc. This rough 
division is not intended to be exclusive, as all classes of articles 
are likely to be made more or less at each stage; thus the 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOI. CHILDREN. "53 

smaller children may make some of the simpler toys used by 
them for exercise, and many simple articles of use. 

A few easy general plans are here offered by way of sugges- 
tion. One of the most promising fields is in the making of 
dolls, their dresses and furniture. This may be done by the 
pupils individually, each making articles for which it has some 
definite use, or by the co-operation of the whole room to fit out 
one doll as was done so successfully in the school in St. Paul, 
described by Miss Stoker. ^ The pupils of this particular school 
averaged fourteen years of age, and took the greatest possible 
interest in making something and in co-operating to secure a 
common result. With girls of this age or slightly younger, 
paper dolls and dresses might have been used to considerable 
extent, and advantage taken of the instructive pleasure in 
parties at this stage, to develop correct ideas of general social 
duties, and to interest in the principles of domestic science. 
Besides the families of paper dolls which may be made, it would 
be well to make table sets, tables and chairs, and eventually to 
have small dinner parties which might serve in many particu- 
lars for the model of those which all girls so much enjoy and 
play. These lessons should be suggestive to the extreme, and 
lay emphasis upon correct ideals. 

In many schools the children already make small models to 
illustrate the subject studied, and in some these objects are 
utilized in the toy theater to dramatize the stories of which they 
read. Work of this sort may easily be made much more gen- 
eral than it is. The list of things made cannot fail to suggest 
many possibilities. Neither is there any reason why the teach- 
er should not at times suggest the work of the children, though 
as far as possible they should be free to choose and to allow 
their own originality to develop. But the original child, the 
genius, is not the average child. Left to itself a child is likely 
to imitate some one else ; hence it is often better in the lower 
grades that the teacher should select. 

The value of the out-door habit, and of everything which tends 
thereto, cannot be too strongly urged. " The fresh air habit, 
at home and in the school, is the most wholesome bodily habit 
that can be implanted at the school age, ' ' writes President 
Eliot, of Harvard.^ Much of the school work readily adapts 
itself to the formation of such habits. Nature study as taught 
does much, but should do more. One of the greatest values 
of collection is on this account. The collections which the child 
makes of stones, leaves, flowers, seeds, insects, etc., may not 
be of much value in themselves, but few motives can interest 

'>^Ped. Sem., Vol. V, p. 281-286. 

2Educ. Rev. Dec. '97, Vol. XIV, p. 417. 



54 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

a child more in things about him than the possibility of him- 
self possessing them. Thus the passion for possessing takes 
the child to things which he should know and love; later 
throughout his whole life he will recognize with thrills of 
pleasure these old friends, and recall the exact spots where 
once long ago he found this or that in rich abundance. School 
walks, too, are of value sometimes, but in many cases, especially 
in rural communities, are likely to be mere subterfuges to get 
rid of school duties, and thus merely teach the possibility of 
shirking resposibilities; for the city children to whom the fresh 
country is always a rich treat this does not apply equally. 
But much better than any general walks may be the formation 
of walking clubs, picnic clubs, bicycle clubs, etc., which at 
stated intervals visit convenient places of interest. 

Teachers may also refresh the interest of their children in 
being out of doors by the introduction of some new game. 
The best game to introduce is some game j^ou used to play and 
especially enjoy; better still, if you can now enjoy it. Often 
it is no easy thing to introduce a new game as in many places 
the local traditions and conditions already so strongly favor 
certain games that others are not needed; and failure to succeed 
in such attempts ought not to discourage. On the other hand 
it is possible to find children with very scanty repertoires of 
games, and largely on account of their environment ignorant 
of the most common games. The writer can hardly imagine 
boyhood where the boys do not know how to play baseball. 
Yet it is said that when a certain play-ground was opened a 
few years ago in the neighborhood of a slum district in Boston, 
and the materials for the game supplied, the boys did not play 
until they had been taught the game by the attendants. On 
account of the limited number of associates of his own age the 
average country child knows fewer of the traditional games 
than his contemporarj' in the more favored parts of the city. 

Children's descriptions of things they have made and the 
plays they have played form one of the richest fields for com- 
position work, and one which has as yet been but slightly 
worked. It touches upon the most vital part of their life, and 
besides furnishing an interesting and rich subject for composi- 
tion, reveals to the teacher much of child life with which she 
should be in sympathy, It could not but help and inspire her 
own work for her pupils. A careful study of the way children 
play such games as school and house, made in this manner, 
would contribute much to our present knowledge of the child. 

Owing to the peculiar character of the returns forming the 
basis of this study there is danger that its true value will be 
underestimated by some, while others will give too great sig- 
nificance to the results presented. In the early part of this 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 55 

article attention was called to the nature of these returns. 
They came from different schools as differently environed as it 
was possible to find in Worcester. Different teachers collected 
them; some talking the questions over with their pupils, and 
some merely giving the questions and having the answers 
written at once. The possibility of suggestion and the conse- 
quent unreliability of the returns at once occurs to anyone who 
has tested the tendency to imitation, so strong in children. 
Accordingly the writer did not at first appreciate their true 
significance, particularly as they had been secured for the pur- 
pose of answering certain questions which had arisen in 
another study; and only after a careful examination was it 
realized that in an unusual manner they brought out the gen- 
eral characteristics of child activity, and were exceptionally 
reliable. 

The questions were so framed that as far as possible they 
called up the child's own experience without suggesting any 
particular answer; the tabulated result did not depend on any 
one answer, but was a compo.site of a dozen or more answers, 
in the same return, to questions from different standpoints; 
and, as far as the general tendencies of child activity are con- 
cerned, the internal evidence of the papers, and the comparison 
with such other facts as are obtainable, favor their reliability. 
The evidence of suggestion was not so strong as would be at 
first naturally expected, and the little that was found did not 
materially influence the facts concerning a general activity or 
concerning any popular amusement. Grounds for this asser- 
tion will be found by comparing the list of questions asked 
with the Curves of Interest in Traditional Amusements (p. 
228). Though these curves are compiled from the answers to 
over a dozen different questions, only between nine and four- 
teen years does the average number of different amusements 
mentioned exceed ten. Evidence of a minimum of suggestion 
is also found in the fact that the papers, as a rule, agreed 
chiefly on those amusements popularly known to be among the 
most common, and that the relative number of children men- 
tioning them — e. g., about 67 percent, in the case of dolls and 
ball play — is apparently too small; on the other hand, they 
differed extremely in the less common amusements, as is shown 
by a total of over 700 different ones mentioned by these 2,000 
children, who cite on an average only ten different ones. 

These results, then, represent with approximate correctness 
the general characteristics of the amusements of 2,000 school 
children in Worcester. Local conditions and other causes in 
their environment, such as their school life, have undoubtedly 
influenced their choice of amusements, yet these children repre- 



LofC. 



56 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

sent average American children, and these results are typical 
of their normal activity. 

Bibliography. 

A few selected titles are here given, but only such as are 
likely to be most helpful to the reader wishing to make further 
investigations along this line. Of works descriptive of many 
of the games mentioned in this article, Newell is, perhaps, the 
best of an5' one authority. He gives a good description of 
many of the traditional games of America; shows how they 
may vary in detail in different localities, and yet retain the 
essential features; and he accounts for the remote origin of 
many amusements. Of similar value is Miss Gomme's Tradi- 
tional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland. Such gen- 
eral works as Champlin, Cassell, and Routledge's also describe 
many of these games and some of the other forms of amuse- 
ment common among the young. Misses Gomme and Willard 
have each collected a few of the more common singing games 
of children, giving the music as well as the words. Since 
Babcock and Culin found in Washington and Brooklyn many 
of the games now popular in Worcester, their description will 
be of special interest to the reader of this article. 

For the discussion of the theory and psychology of play the 
reader is referred to Groos, chapters I and V of the Play of 
Animals and the same author's more recent work. Die Spiele 
Menschen. Groos gives the fullest and clearest treatment of 
this subject to be found, and his bibliography in the foot notes 
is very full. The function of human play is also discussed by 
Baldwin. The references, alread}^ given to Froebel, James, and 
Wundt, account for some of the different phenomena observable 
in the play of childhood. Dr. Gulick gives the results of his 
own careful observations. Newell finds many of these games 
merely the inheritance of the ceremonies and amusements of 
adults at an earlier period; Culin associates many of them with 
the ceremonies of divination; while Taylor sees in these plays 
and movements of childhood the recapitulation of primitive 
life and its movements; and Burk in teasing and bullying sees 
a phase of the same tendency. 

La Grange has published what is perhaps the most complete 
study of physical exercise; while Keating and Ralfe have each 
put in more popular form the accepted opinions upon the results 
of physical exercise. Beyer in his study of the cadets at An- 
napolis has made the most important contribution in English 
regarding the effect of exercise in growth. The general atti- 
tude of those interested in physical training is well seen in the 
admirable discussion of the different systems of physical cul- 
ture found in the Report of the U. S. Bureau of Education for 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 57 

1891-92. A progressive modern view of physical education is 
given in Dr. Hart well's paper mentioned in the bibliography. 
Lesshaft and Bierent touch upon the physiological eflfects of 
physical activity during the years of childhood; while Burk's 
article, From Fundamental to Accessory, presents the more 
recent opinions concerning the development of the nervous 
system. 

Comenius, Froebel, Richter and many others among the edu- 
cational writers, have commented upon the peculiar value of 
play. Froebel more than others has recognized and attempted 
to take advantage in education of the play instinct. Johnson 
has gone a step farther in suggesting a much wider use of the 
game in the school. Sergi and Colozza have studied play from 
the psychological and pedagogical points of view, and both 
criticize the artificialities of modern Froebelianism. Hall and 
Ellis have shown the great role the doll plays in the psychical 
development of the child, and suggest its use in the schoolroom. 
Miss Blow upholds the symbolic side of the kindergarten 
system. 

Russell's observations and the accompanying study by Miss 
Frear deal with imitative play. Strutt and Fettis give excel- 
lent pictures of the amusements of England and Scotland in 
the past. The most complete account of physical exercise and 
related topics, especially of the German system of gymnastics, 
is Euler's encyclopaedia. 

The following brief list of selected titles should be supple- 
mented by reference to the bibliographies of Chamberlain, 
Johnson, and Miss Sisson, and the Bibliography of Child Study 
by Eouis N. Wilson. 

Babcock, W. H. Games of Washington Children. American Anthro- 
pologist, July, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 243-284. Also in L,ippincott's 
Magazine, May, 1886, Vol. XXXVII, pp. 239-257. 

Baldwin, J. Mark. Social and Ethical Interpretation in Mental 
Development. A Study in Social Psychology. N. Y., 1897. pp. 
574- 

Beyer, Henry G. Influence of Exercise on Growth. Jour, of Ex- 
perimental Medicine, Vol. I, pp. 546-558. Also the Am. Phys. 
Rev., Vol. I, pp. 76-87. 

Bierent, Leon. La Pubert^ chez I'homme et chez la femme. Paris, 
1896. pp. 200. 

Blow, Susan E. Symbolic Education. A Commentary on Froebel's 
Mother-Play. N. Y., 1894. 

BowDiTCH, H. P. The Growth of Children. Report of the State 
Board of Health of Massachusetts. Boston, 1877. 

BURK, Frederic From Fundamental to Accessory in the Develop- 
ment of the Nervous System and of Movement. Ped. Sent., Vol. 
VI, pp. 5-64. 

. Teasing and Bullying. Ped. Sent., Vol. IV, pp. 336-371. 



58 AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

Cassell. Book of Out-door Sports and In-door Amusements, Card 
Games, and Fireside Fun. London, 1881. 

Chamberi^ain, a. F. The Child and Childhood in Folkthought. 
N. Y., 1896. pp. 464. Bibliography, very helpful. See p. 405. 

Champlin J. D., AND BosTwiCK, A. E. The Young People's Ency- 
clopedia of Games and Sports. N. Y., 1890. 

COLOZZA, A. II Giuoco nella Pedagogia. Torino, 1895. Vol. XIV, 
pp. 288. 

CoMENius, J. Amos. Comenius's School of Infancy. An essay on 
education during the first six years. Edited by W. S. Monroe. 
Boston, 1896. pp. 16-99. 

CUWN, Stewart. Korean Games with notes on the corresponding 
games of China and Japan. Univ. of Penn.; Phil., 1895. pp. 
36-177. See preface. 

. Street Games of Boys in Brooklyn. Jour, of Am. Folklore, 

July-Sept., 1891, Vol. IV, pp. 221-237. 
Ellis, A. C, and Hall, G. Stanley, a Study of Dolls. Ped. Sem., 

Vol. IV, pp. 129-175. 
Euler, Carl. Eucyclopadisches Handbuch des gesamten Turnwesens 

und der verwandten Gebiete. Wien und L/cipzig, 1894. 2 Vol. 
Fettis, Robert S. Sports and Pastimes of Scotland. London, 1891. 

pp. 212. 
Frear, Caroline. Ped. Sem., Vol. IV, pp. 382-386. 
Froebel, Friedrich. The Education of Man. Translated by W. N. 

Hailmann. N. Y., 1896. pp. 332. 
GOMME, Alice B. Children's Singing Games, with the tunes to which 

they are sung. N. Y., 1894. pp. 70. 
. The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 

London, 1894. 
Groos, Karl. The Play of Animals. Translated by Elizabeth L. 

Baldwin, with preface by J. Mark Baldwin. N. Y., 1898.' pp. 

26-341. 

. Die Spiele der Menschen. Jena, 1899. pp. 538. 

GULICK, Luther. Some Psychical Aspects of Physical Exercise. 

Pop. Sci. Mo., Vol. LII, pp. 793-808 (Oct. 1898). 
. Psychological, Pedagogical, and Religious Aspects of Group 

Games. Ped. Sent., Jan., iSgg. 
HarTwell, E. M. Physical Training. Its Function and Place in 

Education. Am. Phys. Educ. Rev., Vol. II, pp. 133-154. 
Johnson, G. E. Education by Plays and Games. Ped. Sem., Vol, 

III, pp. 132-133- 
Keating, J. M., and Young, J. K. Physical Development. See 

Vol. IV, pp. 241-324. 

. Cyclopedia. The Diseases of Children. Phila., 1891. 

La Grange, Fernand. Physiology of Bodily Exercise. N. Y., 1896. 

PP- 395- 
Lesshaft, p. De 1 'Education de 1' Enfant dans la Famille et de sa 

Signification. Paris, 1894. 
Newell, William W. Games and Songs of American Children. N. 

Y., 1884. pp. 242. 
Parkes, Louis C. Hygiene and Public Health. 5th Ed. London, 

1891. pp. 557. 



AMUSEMENTS OF WORCESTER SCHOOL CHILDREN. 59 

RAI.FE, C. H. Exercise and Training. N. Y., 1894. pp. 96. 

Report of U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1891-1892. Vol. I, p. 636. 
Physical Education i. Historical Sketch. 2. Essential Features 
of Principal Systems represented in this country. 3. Suggestions 
concerning School Gymnastics. 

ROUTLEDGE, E. Every Boys' Book : a complete Encyclopedia of 
Sports and Amusements. London, 1881. pp. 904. 

RusSELiv, E. H. Child Observations. First series : Imitation and 
Allied Activities. Edited by Miss Haskell. Boston, 1895. 

Sergi, Guiseppe. Dolore e Piacere Milano, 1894. XV, 395 pp. 
Pages 273-284 on Play. 

SiSSON, Geneva. Bibliography of Children's Games. In Barnes's 
Studies in Education. No. 5. pp. 184-189. Sanford University, 
1896. Refers to 23 books and articles, and 10 syllabi. Indicates 
character of each. 

StruTT, Joseph. The Sports and Pastimes of the People of Eng- 
land. . . . from the earliest period to the present time. New 
Edition by Wm. Howe. London, 1845. PP- 420. 

Tylor, E. B. Primitive Culture. N. Y., 1874. 

West, G. M. The Anthropology of American School Children. In- 
ternational Congress of Anthropology. Chicago, 1894. pp. 50-58. 

W11.1.ARD, Eleanor \V. Children's Singing Games. N. Y., 1895. 
pp. 67. 

WiivSON, Louis N. Bibliography of Child Study. Ped. Sem., Vol. V, 
pp. 541-589. Contains 641 titles, and is carefully indexed for 
convenient reference. 



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